NAVI PH and Team Liquid Aqua hacked out full three-game series wins and swept their respective groups to emerge as top seeds in the playoffs of the MLBB Women’s Invitational (MWI) 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Defending champion NAVI PH, formerly known as Omega Empress, took down the Myanmar-based squad Terror Queens, 2-1, to barge into the playoffs on July 16. 

MLBB (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang), a 5v5 mobile online battle arena game, was developed by Moonton, a subsidiary of ByteDance, in 2016. The MWI is considered the world championship of the female MLBB scene as part of the Esports World Cup 2025 line-up of games.

NAVI PH routed Cambodia’s CFU Serendipity in the July 15 opener with a relentless 20-0 drubbing in just 9 minutes and 36 seconds—the fastest game in the tournament as yet.

Rica Fatima “AMORE” Amores’ Selena in the mid lane proved too pesky for the Terror Queens (TQ) to handle as they found themselves at the mercy of the Abyssal Arrows which allowed NAVI PH to snowball early in the game and never looked back. 

AMORE finished the game with a 7/0/5 showing, while jungler Kaye Maerylle “Keishi” Alpuerto put up a 6/0/10 performance on her Yi Sun Shin. 

After conceding Game 2 to TQ in a 14-18 slugfest, the deciding game saw the reigning champs command an early lead with two turtle takes and a 3.6K gold lead by the 10th minute. 

With both teams taking part in the Lord dance in the 11th minute, NAVI PH managed to pick off KUU’s Khaleed and CKOSHII’s Irithel in isolated river fights to secure the first Lord.

As NAVI PH knocked onto the Terror Queens’ base with the Lord, Sheen “SHINOA” Perez drove the nail in the coffin for their opponent with a triple kill on the Melissa to cap the game with an electric 5/1/4 performance in the gold lane. 

“‘Yung pressure, kasi kami ’yung defending champions last time (There’s pressure since we are the defending champions),” said Perez on the mental obstacles they’re facing throughout the tournament. “Pero hindi naman po ‘yun nakaka-affect sa game and pinakita naman po namin (But that didn’t affect us in the game and we showed it in our performance),” she added. 

Debut with a splash 

After acing their opening match against Tidal Legends Gaming (TLG), 2-0, Team Liquid Aqua pulled off a reverse sweep in their MWI debut against Natus Vincere Malaysia (NAVI MY), 2-1, to gain the first playoff spot. 

Coming off a 21-minute heartbreak loss in Game 1, TL Aqua made quick work of NAVI MY in Game 2 with a strong 15-3 clapback in just 11 minutes and 37 seconds. Jungler Trinity “Ramicii” Ramos led the Filipino women’s squad with a flawless 6/0/6 showing on the Hayabusa to force the deciding Game 3. 

In the final game, both teams were unable to pull away with an early lead. The first two turtles went the way of NAVI MY while TL Aqua dominated the kills department.

But a massive 4-for-nothing teamfight in the 9th minute turned the tide for TL Aqua, courtesy of a monster triple kill from Ramicii’s Yi Sun Shin which boosted the Filipino squad to a massive 3K gold margin. 

With the first Lord being stolen by NAVI MY EXP laner Qurratul “Shaa” Nizam off of a Demon Eye plus Flicker combo, Team Liquid decided to calm their horses and played safe while waiting for the next Lord take.

After securing the uncontested Lord at the 14th minute, it punished an engaged attempt by NAVI MY in the top lane, resulting in a 3-nil exchange and the eventual base siege to clinch the playoffs spot. 

Ramicii capped the series with another masterclass performance in the jungle, notching 7/0/4, while gold laner Clarisse Nicole “CLA” Cordova popped off with her Karrie pick with a 7/1/5 showing. 

Asked about their preparations for NAVI MY, which beat them in their last encounter, Cordova owed it to their prepwork and the coaching staff: “Nag-prepare po kami nang maayos kagabi and tapos pinaghandaan po namin nila Coach ang draft (The team prepared well last night for the game, and we focused on the draft phase with Coach).”

MWI 2025 format

A lot has been changed in this year’s MLBB Women’s Invitational compared to last year’s inaugural iteration. The revised tournament format was due to the number of participating teams from last year’s 12 to this year’s 16. 

For the group stage, 16 teams are drawn into four groups of four teams—A, B, C, and D. All matches are played in a best-of-3 series. The top 2 teams from each group will move forward to the top 8 playoffs. The top seed of each group will play the top 2 of the other groups for the first round of playoffs. 

Quarterfinals are still played in Bo3 while the semifinals and the battle-for-third match are played in Bo5. The grand finals is the only match to be played in a best-of-7 series.

The championship team gets US$150,000 (P8.58 million) and 1000 club points; second place, US$90,000 (P5.15 million) and 750 club points; third place, US$50,000 (P2.86 million) and 500 club points; and fourth place, US$30,000 (P1.7 million) and 300 club points. 

The fifth to eighth placers each get US$20,000 (P1.14 million) and 200 club points. 

The club points matter a lot in the grand scheme of things at the 2025 Esports World Cup; it determines the top 16 organizations in the whole event that will share a ginormous prize pool of US$27,000,000 (P1.5 billion). 

The organization with the highest total club points will take home a whopping US$7,000,000 (P400.5 million).