KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's HomeBois kicked off their Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) M5 World Championship campaign on a high, defeating Indonesia's Geek Fam 2-0 in their opening Group D match at the EVM Convention Center in Manila today.
The MLBB Malaysian Professional League (MPL MY) champions overcame a slow start to overpower the Indonesian champions in both games for a comprehensive win.
HomeBois coach Khairul Azman Sharif said both teams were nervous today.
"It happens as this is the first match in the World Championship," said Khairul Azman in the post-match press conference today.
"We believe we can advance to the knockout stage. We will play Ohio Brothers and Deusvult next." HomeBois will take on Russia's DeusVult in their second Group D match on Dec 6.
Meanwhile, another Malaysian team, SMG, faced a setback, losing 2-0 to Turkey's Fire Flux eSports in their Group B opener.
SMG will seek to bounce back when they take on M3 champions Blacklist International from the Philippines on Monday (Dec 4).
SMG coach Ren "Pao" Villanueva conceded that a stronger side won the match.
"Our play was messy. It was just not our day. We have to do better," said the Filipino.
"Fire Flux were the better team, who controlled the match. We are surprised as Turkish teams are not on the mainstream. However, Fire Flux showed excellent teamwork today."