The MPL Invitational starts in just ten days time, with 20 teams from Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Singapore battling it out for a US$100,000 prize pool.

ONE Esports recently caught up with MPL PH Season 6 champions Bren Esports and their captain, Angelo Kyle “Pheww” Arcangel, to see how the team is preparing for the tournament.

After winning Season 6, Pheww and his crew went for a quick vacation to the coastal town of La Union, where they got to spend the day relaxing by the beach. However, immediately after they started preparing for MPLI with international scrims.

While the team is based in the Philippines, Bren Esports has been scrimming with teams from other regions to get more experience against different playstyles and refine the team’s ability to adapt.

“One improvement that we can focus on is our sidelanes,” said Pheww. “They need to be more dominant and confident in playing their heroes and overall, we need to be more consistent on our teamwork.”

Heading into the MPLI, the Bren support player also shared his thoughts on the biggest heroes that should be the first pick/ban in the tournament. He pointed to the tanky characters of Barats and Esmeralda because of their ability to win lanes easily without any support.

Pheww also said that while he considers Indonesia to be the strongest region for MLBB, his own country isn’t far behind: “Indonesia is always ahead with experimentation and meta, but the Phillippines has so far been able to replicate it to a better standard.”

He also took time to praise some of MPL ID’s biggest names, pointing to RRQ’s Lemon as a player he respects the most. Additionally, with off season rumors of cross-region transfers between Indonesia and the Philippines, Pheww also said that if he did one day move to an Indonesian team, RRQ Hoshi would be the one that he would love to be part of.

“The player I respect the most in Indonesia is Lemon,” stated Pheww. “The team that I want to join in Indonesia is RRQ Hoshi.”

Unsurprisingly, Pheww also singled out RRQ Hoshi as the team he wants to beat at MPLI, although he also picked MPL MY/SG’s Orange Louvre as a strong contender as the two teams have already played a few scrimmages together.

Considered to be the best of the best in the PH region, the Bren captain expounded on the pressure of performing well at the MPLI. Even though there are six invited PH teams, he understands that he not only represents Bren but the entire PH region when facing other regions.

With Indonesia being lauded as the top region, Pheww concluded the interview with a warning shot to the participating MPL ID teams:

“For our enemies in the MPL ID, prepare yourselves because we will be the champions.”

READ MORE: Bren Esports’ Pheww talks about the essentials to a championship team