The 2022 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship, commonly referred to as the M4 World Championship and M4, was the fourth edition of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship, an Esports tournament for the Mobile Game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
The annual international tournament was organized by MLBB Game Developers Moonton, in partnership with several sponsors including the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia. The tournament was held in Jakarta from January 1 to January 15, 2023.
Sweeping the defending champions with a 4–0 score, ECHO Philippines defeated Blacklist International in a best-of-seven series to become the fourth World Champions. It marked the second Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championships where two Filipino teams are upper bracket and lower bracket contenders for the said title. It also marked the third-consecutive world championship title that a Filipino team has won, beginning in M2.
Karl Gabriel "KarlTzy" Nepomuceno is the first ever MLBB player who has won two world championships.
Background
The MLBB M4 World Championships was the fourth edition of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship and the first edition of the games to be held in Indonesia. Previously, Malaysia and Singapore held the first three editions of the games, M1 in Kuala Lumpur and M2 and M3 in Singapore. The tournament was held on January 1, 2023, until January 15, surpassing one year of the previous editions of the tournament.
M4 featured sixteen (16) qualified teams from Asia, North America, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Europe and Latin America. Teams qualified through their region's qualification method, whether it be an MPL Region or a Moonton-approved qualification tournament.
A notable fact that in every edition of the World Championship, an exclusive battle pass skin and the champion skin will be released. Previously, the Fighter-hero Roger was chosen to be the battle pass skin and the Champions Skin was Estes, picked by Blacklist International. In the current battle pass, the Marksman Hero Beatrix was chosen as the Battle pass skin.
Qualified teams
Qualifying for the M4 World Championships comes from the competing nation's Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League or commonly known as "MPL." However, regional qualifiers in the North America, Turkey, Myanmar, Mekong (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam), and Latin American regions were also held to broaden the reach of the Championship's teams.
Unlike in the previous MLBB World Championships, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Japan would not participate in the upcoming M4. On the other hand, Mekong and Myanmar will re-join after their absence in the M3 World Championship held in Singapore. The number of qualifiers for Singapore and Brazil have been reduced to one, while the Latin America region will now delegate two teams participating for the world championship.
Venue
The M4 World Championship was announced to be held in the capital city of Jakarta, Indonesia.
Previously, the group stages and playoffs will be held at XO Hall and Istora Senayan, but due to unforeseen circumstances and for the safety of fans, both venues were changed accordingly by the M4 organizers.
Group stages for the tournament will now be held at the Bali United Studio, Jakarta Indonesia. In addition, the knockout stages will be hosted at the Tennis Indoor Senayan. The selling of tickets for the event started on October 19.
Marketing
During the build up to the M4 World Championships, the MLBB Official YouTube Channel, alongside MPL Region YouTube channels such as the Philippines and Indonesia, have released several promotional and publicity videos to promote the upcoming world championships.
In the Philippines, the theme song "PINAS LANG MALAKAS", was released and was sung by KZ Tandingan, featuring Nik Makino. The song included the four prominent members of both qualifying teams of the Philippines, Danerie "Wise." Del Rosario and Jonmar "OhMyV33Nus" Villaluna of Blacklist International, and Karl Gabriel "KarlTzy" Nepomuceno and Tristan "YAWI" Cabrera of ECHO Philippines. The music video also featured Joshua "CH4KNU" Mangilog of Smart Omega and selected shoutcasters of MPL Philippines.
Format
Group stage: January 1–4, 2023
16 teams qualified for the event are split into four groups of 4 teams each. All matches in the group stage are played in a series. The top two teams per group qualified for the Upper Bracket Playoffs. The bottom two teams per group qualified for the Lower Bracket Playoffs. Knockout stage (playoffs): January 7–14, 2023