The MSC 2021: $150,000 Mobile Legends Tournament

After skipping its turn in 2020 due to the global pandemic and travel restrictions, the Mobile Legends Southeast Asian Cup (MSC) is making a comeback this year. While the health situation is still complicated, it will be held online for the first time in its history. So there will be no jealousy: everyone will be playing at home at the same time. On paper, the MSC 2021 seems a little less attractive than usual... However, the game should be good. We can add that with a cash-prize of 150 000 dollars, the players should easily find motivation. As a reminder, the last edition in 2019 offered "only" 120 000 dollars.

As in the last edition, the competition will be played with 12 teams. This annual tournament has come a long way from its early days when it was difficult to get 7 worthy participants. Pandemic or no pandemic, the Mobile Legends scene continues to grow and South East Asia remains the pioneer region in this field.

MSC 2021: format and schedule

The MSC 2021 will run from 8 to 13 June. The future competitors have only one month left to prepare and reach their peak form. As usual, there will be one match after another and they will have to keep up the pace in this fast-paced competition.

• Group Stage 1: 8 June
• Group Stage 2: 9 June
• Playoffs: 11 to 13 June
• Grand final: 13 June

The 12 teams are from the following countries: Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. For the moment, the identity of the participants is not yet known. However, given the tight schedule, we would bet more on an invitation system based on past performances than on a qualification system. It is therefore impossible to know if ONIC Esports, the title holders from Singapore, will be there to defend their Mobile Legends crown.

How to ensure the festivities?

Without an audience and with an online competition, it is difficult to maintain the hype. Players, but also spectators, love the atmosphere of packed rooms and the adrenaline of direct confrontations. To compensate for this, the organisers have planned to set up in-game events and giveaways. There will also be surprise guests such as former professional players.

A good barometer of the excitement will be the number of online viewers. Since its inception, the MSC has grown with each edition and the MSC 2021 hopes to continue the tradition. The records to be broken are: peak at 276,579 simultaneous viewers, 64,552 viewers on average and 2,802,625 hours viewed.