MPL Philippines Season 18 Starts Aug. 21 with M8 Slots

MPL Philippines Season 18 begins on Aug. 21 with eight franchised teams competing for a $150,000 prize pool and two direct slots to the M8 World Championship.

The regular season will use a double round-robin format with best-of-three matches. Each team will face the other seven teams twice to determine seeding for the playoffs. The top six teams after the regular season will advance to the postseason.

The playoffs adopt a hybrid elimination format. The third- through sixth-seeded teams will play a single-elimination opening round while the top two seeds receive byes into the next stage. Playoff matches are scheduled as best-of-five series, with the Lower Bracket Final and the Grand Final set as best-of-seven.

The league continues its franchise model for an 11th consecutive season. Participating organizations are AP.Bren, Aurora Gaming, Omega Esports, ONIC Philippines, Team Falcons PH, Team Liquid PH, TNC Pro Team and Twisted Minds PH. The season will be held as an offline event, allowing fans to attend matches in person, and will be streamed on Mobile Legends’ official online channels.

Moonton Games confirmed the overall prize pool at $150,000; the exact distribution has not been finalized. Based on recent seasons, the champion and runner-up typically receive the largest shares and the two M8 berths. A possible allocation would see the champion awarded around $35,000 and the runner-up about $20,000, with smaller amounts for other top-six finishers.

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is midway through the 2026 esports calendar. The MPL Philippines season provides teams a route to the year’s global finals by offering direct qualification spots to the M8 World Championship.

Organizers have not released a full match schedule or venue details beyond the opening date. Fans seeking live coverage and updates can follow Mobile Legends’ official channels for announcements and streaming information as the season approaches.