Team SMG, Team Lilgun dominates M5 Wild Card, books trip to PH

The casts of the upcoming M5 World Championship in the Philippines are finally known.

Completing the 16-team tournament are Malaysia's Team SMG and Mongolia's Team Lilgun after emerging as the M5 Wild Card winners.

For the first time in M-series history, a team will represent Mongolia in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang's biggest competition worldwide.

Both sides also became the first two squads that qualified through the wild card round held at JioSpace in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on November 23-26.

Team SMG and Team Lilgun imposed their dominance early in the wild card round, finishing the group stages on top with a perfect 3-0 win-loss record.

SMG, Mobile Legends Professional League (MPL) Malaysia Season 12 runner-up, clinched Group A to face Group B second place Latin America's Imperio E-Sport.

Using X.Borg, Aeliff "Smooth" Ariff did the lifting for the Malaysian esports team's Game One victory with a flawless five-kill and five-assist performance without a single death.

In Game Two, it was Kenneth "Saxa" Fedelin's Akai who dealt most of the damage for the MPL MY Season 8 winner.

Refusing to give up, Imperio extended the best-of-five (Bo5) series behind the crucial maniac of Marco "Markinho" Colque's Dyrroth in Game Three.

The Ren Paolo "Pao" Villanueva-mentored crew regained their form in the fourth and final game, dominating Maximiliano Omar Frenedoso "El Viejo" Aragona's side from start to finish.

Getting the lord buff at the 13-minute mark, Team SMG eliminated three Imperio players before marching down the middle lane for the finisher.

In the second crossover match, Group B's top-seeded Team Lilgun proved too much for Group A runner-up Niightmare Esports, with the former sweeping the latter in their Bo5 duel.

The all-Mongolian team took Games One and Two dominantly before fending off a resilient Niightmare Esports side in the third game that went beyond 25 minutes.

Lilgun toppled the Lao squad in the lord dance at the 27-minute mark before picking each of their members one by one to close the deal.

Securing the last two M5 berths, Team SMG and Team Lilgun are up against a taller task than the wild card phase come the fifth ML World Championship.

Team SMG is bunched alongside M3 champion Blacklist International of the host nation, MTC Turkiye Season 2 winner Fire Flux Esports, and reigning Liga Latam titlist RRQ Akira in Group B.

Meanwhile, Team Lilgun will deal with MPL PH S12 champ AP Bren, M2 finalist Burmese Ghouls, and defending MPL Singapore titleholder Team Flash in Group C.

READ: M5 Draw: AP Bren in Group C, Blacklist International goes Group B

The M5 group stages begin on December 2, with SMG facing Fire Flux at 4 pm after the clash of AP Bren and Burmese Ghouls at 2 pm.

Lilgun, on the other hand, begins its M5 stint against Team Flash at 4 pm on December 4.

For more details about the M5 World Championship, read our comprehensive guide.

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