Local professional Dota 2 team, Atlantis has been crowned as the champion of the Dota 2 category of the Malaysian Esports League 2022 Open Series (Malaysia Esports League 2022 Open Series or MEL22 Open Series) organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) and Esports Integrated (ESI).
Team Atlantis has previously succeeded in becoming the champion of the Men’s Dota 2 category at the Commonwealth Esports Championships 2022.
Meanwhile, Todak won the Valorant MEL22 Open Series category while Faiq Iskandar (Halowake), has succeeded in becoming the FIFA MEL22 Open Series category champion.
Each champion brought home a cash prize of RM10,000 plus a trophy and medals. The total prize pool for the MEL22 Regular Series and MEL22 Open Series is around RM299,500.
The MEL22 Regular Series is divided into two levels, the State League (September 12 – 29, 2022) and the National Level (October 1 – November 2, 2022) where these athletes compete in Mobile Legends games: Bang Bang (MLBB), PlayerUnknown’s Battleground Mobile (PUBGM) and Garena Free Fire (FF); while the MEL22 Open Series (9 November – 4 December 2022) is for Dota 2, FIFA23 and Valorant categories. The total registration for MEL22 is more than 12,000 people, mainly youths.
The MEL22 Open Series will continue with another edition featuring a game title published by a local company (Ammobox Studios Sdn. Bhd) namely EXIMIUS: Seize the Frontline on January 9 – 15, 2023 and a special series for the Persons with Disabilities (OKU), Para MEL22 on February 2023 features the MLBB title.
After the end of MEL22, the winners of MEL22 will get an automatic slot in the Malaysian Esports Championship 2022/2023 (Malaysia Esports Championship 2022/2023 or MEC 2022/2023) which will take place in the near future. For the Para MEL22 winners, they are expected to represent Malaysia for the MLBB category at the Games for the Disabled, the ASEAN Para Games 2022 which will take place in Cambodia in May and June 2023.
MEL22 is organized by KBS through ESI with the cooperation of 16 state and Federal Territories’ electronic sports associations, in line with the development program under the ESI roadmap and KBS Electronic Sports Development Strategic Plan 2020 – 2025. It has received the support of MLBB game publisher, Moonton Games; PUBGM, Tencent Games; and Free Fire, Garena.
It is also supported by Bronze Sponsors, Nescafe and Indomie; Media Partners namely eGG Network, Rakita 107.9 and TikTok; safe sports partner, Safe Sport Malaysia and Anti-Doping Partner, Malaysian Anti-Doping Agency (ADAMAS).
The competition is also in support of the #ImpactTolongHantar initiative organized by Impact Malaysia. For more info, please visit Instagram: @esportsintegrated.
