ONIC Esports Chasing for the Gold Standard in MPL Indonesia

As we move to the playoffs phase of the MPL Indonesia season 17, one team stands on the verge of reaching the gold standard for the greatest MPL Indonesia team. ONIC Esports might have what it takes to become the legendary name to stand on the podium.

As of today, ONIC Esports has achieved various successes over national and international tournaments. At one point, some feared MPL ID was heading into farmers league territory with how dominant ONIC was.

And yet, one thing still stands in their way to finally establish themselves as the GOAT: winning an M Series title and eclipsing EVOS Esports as the only Indonesian team to ever win the prestigious title.

But before that happens, let us take a look at ONIC’s journey to become the gold standard of MPL Indonesia teams.

Key to ONIC’s Success

If we want to talk about how ONIC Esports became so successful, we think the turning point came from when Kairi and Yeb came. The combination of one of the best Philippine players and one of the best Philippine coaches became an unstoppable force in MPL Indonesia.

The inclusion of Yeb and Kairi gave ONIC Esports an advantage. They evolved ONIC’s gameplay, with never-before-seen macro play in Indonesia back then. There’s no doubt that on a micro level, Indonesian players have great proficiency. But in Mobile Legends, micro can only get you so far without an excellent macro.

Not only that, the ONIC management is also forward-thinking. With a two-country team setup, ONIC has a great think tank solution to bolster their tactical knowledge. Regular scrims are held between the Indonesian and Philippine teams. This is also useful in terms of roster changes, for example, when Ryota and Kelra transferred to Indonesia, while Savero went to the Philippines.

ONIC also prioritized stability and growth over quick fixes. We saw some teams overhauling their roster radically, which upsets the team balance. This resulted in an even worse result than last season. When something doesn’t work on ONIC, they go back to the drawing board, try to fix anything that they could with anything that’s available at their disposal, and only resort to roster change when necessary.

This is why through roster changes like when Drian moved away, Butsss retiring, CW transitioning into a coaching role, Adi resigning, and even Yeb moving back and forth between coaching and managing the organization, the team has relatively maintained their momentum.

The result speaks for itself. 8 MPL ID titles, 2 MSC titles, and dozens more in lesser international tournaments. They even got a four-peat titles from season 10 to season 13. It’s safe to say that no other teams came close to ONIC.

The Gold Standard of Malaysia and Philippines

To achieve greater heights, ONIC will need to conquer the international stages. For this year alone, we saw an increasing level of competition from our greatest rivals, the Malaysian and the Philippines teams.

Let’s start from the Philippines. The current most successful team would be Team Liquid PH. They have accrued many achievements ever since their incarnation as ECHO. TLPH has won five MPL PH titles, as well as one M Series and one MSC.

There’s no doubt that KarlTzy is their most important player, with 2025 being his prime year. There’s no telling what success he will achieve this year, and he’ll definitely strive for more after winning the MPL Philippines season 17 with Team Liquid PH.

Moving on to Malaysia, Selangor Red Giants will arrive to this year’s MSC with big momentum. They came out of MPL Malaysia Season 17 as a champion, becoming the first MLBB team to win five successive MPL seasons in a row. This is what ONIC failed to achieve in season 14.

Winning this one isn’t an easy feat. MPL Malaysia season 17 is the first season to be held using a franchise system. Teams from Indonesia and China came to Malaysia to seek more glory, and Indonesian imports came pouring in to look for a second chance.

Yet despite that, SRG kept holding on and, through determination and effort, successfully snatched their deserved victory.

The Long and Winding Golden Road

Back in the M5 World Championship in the Philippines, ONIC Esports was on the verge of completing their Golden Road: winning all MPL seasons, MSC, and M Series in the same year.

The philosophy behind the Golden Road can be traced to the Dune novels. Paul Atreides has a vision called the Golden Path, where he has to navigate a treacherous series of events to avoid humanity’s stagnation and extinction.

The same goes for ONIC, where they have to struggle hard to arrive at that point. And yet, ONIC lost to AP.Bren right at the grad final, where both teams fought to the bitter end. The impact of this defeat is so catastrophic; Kairi himself was said to be struggling to recover for a long time.

Speaking to Wolf, as quoted from Pressroom PH, Kairi expressed the heartbreak of losing the final game that separated ONIC from the world title.

“It was worse during the first two weeks. Every day, I couldn’t go a single day without thinking about it. For example, when I was about to sleep or even when I was just spacing out, I couldn’t not think about it,” said Kairi, retelling how he coped with the feeling of defeat.

But eventually, as more success came to ONIC’s way, Kairi could let go of his regret. He managed to turn that grudge into achievements and, in turn, made himself more relevant than ever.

“I don’t think about it too much anymore. Because if I keep thinking about it, I don’t want to get stuck. I don’t want to end up like other players who got stuck. I also don’t want to be stuck on M5 because there are still many tournaments ahead. That means I still have many opportunities to do better and make a comeback,” Kairi explained.

Now in season 17, ONIC has a chance to retry their Golden Road effort. Kelra’s arrival in Indonesia proved to be a blessing, because the Yellow Hedgehog seems to be unbeatable at times. When the team got knocked down, they punched back stronger than ever.

Even more so, season 17 is a season where anyone (except RRQ) has equal chances of qualifying for the playoffs. Deciding who got left behind was tense, with any confirmation determined up until the last week of the regular season.

Another worthy moment to mention is that on May 16, Kelra’s father passed away, but the gold laner decided to keep playing. ONIC got their victory, where Kelra performed as expected while still grappling with grief.

So, being a dominating force where the competition level is high and a lot of external factors are creeping in is no easy feat. Yet, ONIC managed to win the regular season with a good foundation that they had cultivated for a long time.

With the start of the season 17 playoffs, the gateway to Golden Road has just been opened, and ONIC will have to fight hard to enter it.