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| Smart Omega Empress celebrating their historic crowning as MLBB Women's Invitational 2024 during the eSports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Image Source: Manila Standard/eSports World Cup) |
A new era dawns for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) women’s eSports as Smart Omega Empress (OMGE) dethroned Team Vitality (VIT) to take the MLBB Women’s Invitational (MWI) 2024 and write history as the first Filipino team to win a tournament and become world champions at the eSports World Cup. The all-Filipino team from Cebu executed a clean sweep over their Indonesian rivals in the Best-Of-Five (BO5) Grand Finals held last July 28, 2024, ending their 24-match winning streak dating back to 2021. Along with the crown, OMGE takes home US$180,000 of the US$500,000 prize pool, the largest-ever purse in women’s eSports. Meanwhile, Sheen “Shinoa” Perez was declared the Finals Most Valuable Player (FMVP), taking home US$50,000.
The MWI is the biggest MLBB eSports tournament for women athletes and aims to provide female players with the platform to pursue their professional gaming ambitions. The MWI 2024 was played in the Amazon Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, marking the first time that the tournament was held outside of Southeast Asia, as part of the maiden eSports World Cup and brought together 12 international teams from around the world. Smart Omega Empress is fielded by Gold Laner Sheen “Shinoa” Perez, Jungler Kaye “Keishi” Alpuerto, Mid Laner Rica “Amoree” Amores, EXP Laner Gwyneth “Ayanami” Diagon, and Roamer Mery Christine “Meraaay” Vivero and is led by Coach Salman “KingSalman” Macarambon. OMGE Roamer Meraaay said during the post-match press conference, “We want to give honor to our country. I hope we made our kababayans (countrymen) proud, including those who went to the venue to support us. It feels like a dream for all of us. We would like to take our hats off to Team Vitality who gave us a good fight. We can already call ourselves world champions. To all aspiring female MLBB players out there, continue what you’re doing, especially if it is something that you love. We started from scratch, always almost losing every time, but we continued playing because we felt like this is something we love.”
The third edition of the MWI smashed the tournament’s previous viewership record. The MWI 2024 Grand Finals achieved 265,117 Peak Concurrent Viewers (PCV), according to eSports Charts, which is more than its previous benchmark of 179,024 PCV set at MWI 2023. “The MWI 2024 has achieved a great viewership for mobile women’s eSports. The participation of the Indonesian team in the final played a significant role, and it had a substantial prize pool, which is one of the largest in women’s eSports history. The fact that it’s now among the top three most viewed mobile women’s eSports events, together with the 32nd SEA Games and MWI 2022, highlights the immense growth and increasing interest in women’s competitive gaming,” shared eSports Charts Co-Founder and CEO Artyom Odintsov. MOONTON Games Head of eSports Ecosystem Ray Ng said, “The competitive women’s esports scene has taken a huge step forward with the MWI 2024. We believe that eSports is for everyone, so we’re delighted to have given the world’s best female athletes the stage and #TimeToShine. We’d also like to thank all of our fans who cheered the roof off the Amazon Arena.”
