Mobile Legends: Bang Bang's Estes to get M3 World Championship skin

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) M3 World Champions Blacklist International and their fans are sure to be having a great holiday season as developer Moonton Games have confirmed that the new M3 Champion Skin will be Estes.

“To our beloved gamers, Estes is the chosen champion M3 skin. We have heard your voices, and we will proceed with Blacklist International's choice,” Moonton said in a tweet on the official MLBB Esports Twitter account on 24 Dec.

As winners of the M3 World Championship, Blacklist International were given the opportunity to choose a “signature champion” that would receive a skin commemorating their victory.

EVOS Legends notably chose a skin for Harith after winning M1, while the first Filipino MLBB world champions, Bren Esports, decided on a Lancelot skin after winning M2.

Blacklist International were quick to pick Estes, one of their signature champions and a staple of their drafts since Season 7 of the MLBB Pro League (MPL) Philippines.

Estes is also a crucial component of the team's patented UBE, or Ultimate Bonding Experience, strategy that revolves around sticking together as a team as much as possible.

Estes enables this strategy with his Blessing of the Moon Goddess ultimate, which heals multiple allies around him and allows his team to either tank through a teamfight or sustain a prolonged siege.

However, Moonton were said to be initially reluctant to grant Blacklist International's wish for an Estes skin.

In a Facebook livestream on 22 December, the team's star midlaner Johnmar “OhMyV33nus” Villaluna revealed that the developer didn't want to make a skin for Estes because the champion was "not marketable".

"Moonton will decide, not the players [...] It’s already been decided, it is what it is. We cannot do anything about it,” OhMyV33nus said.

Not long after, the #WeWantEstes hashtag started trending on Facebook and Twitter, as both Blacklist International fans and much of the Filipino MLBB community took to social media to express their support for the M3 world champions' choice of a champion to get their signature skin.

Blackllist International and Tier One Entertainment co-owners and founders Alodia Gosiengfiao and Tryke “TryQ” Gutierrez also reached out to Moonton for this request and posted #WeWantEstes on Social Media.

Even other MLBB teams and players from the Philippines joined the call.

Fans even went as far as giving 1-star ratings with #WeWantEstes as feedback for MLBB on Google Play and the Apple Store. They also did the same to other mobile MOBAs like League of Legends: Wild Rift.

Moonton released a statement on 23 December that the champion skin hasn’t been determined before ultimately confirming the next day that Blacklist International’s wish has been granted.

Gosiengfiao later commended Moonton in a tweet following the announcement:

“We want to thank Moonton's management for the transparency and for opening a line of communication for the past 48 hours to discuss about our choice of skin in #M3. We know how much this means to our players and we're so happy that this is now sorted out," said Gosiengfiao.

Blacklist International swept ONIC PH in the Grand Finals on 19 December to become the M3 World Champions, taking home US $300,000.

Anna is a freelance writer and photographer. She is a gamer who loves RPGs and platformers, and is a League of Legends geek. She's also a food enthusiast who loves a good cup of black coffee.

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