KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Team SMG kicked off their Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) M5 World Championship Wild Card campaign on a high note by narrowly defeating Laos' Niightmare eSports 2-1 in their Group A opener today.
While SMG dominated the first game, Niightmare staged an upset to claim the second game. However, the Malaysian team clinched victory in the deciding game at the JioSpace Arena, Petaling Jaya.
SMG player Hazziq Danish "Stormie" Rizwan said they lost the second game due to pressure, miscommunication and errors.
"After the second game defeat, we headed back to our holding room to plan new strategies and regroup. It worked well for us," said the Klang-based professional gamer.
Meanwhile, SMG coach Ren "Pao" Villanueva said "Our mistakes cost us the second game. They were just waiting for us to make mistakes.
"We need to improve our communication.We also need to have better self-control and make the right decisions during a match." said Ren.
The team will face Nepal's 4Merical eSports tomorrow before wrapping up the group stage against Team Falcons of Saudi Arabia on the following day.
SMG hope to reach the final of the Wild Card event to qualify for the World Championship in Manila from Dec 2-12.
The M5 World Championship is the largest MLBB eSports event globally, featuring sixteen international teams competing for a combined prize pool of USD 900,000 (RM4.18 million).