Resurgence, one of the biggest mainstays of the Malaysian and Singaporean esports scene are no strangers when it comes to change. After being around since 2017 and their teams having numerous roster adjustments, the organization itself has decided to make significant changes to their identity. While the company has tweaked its image and logo in the past, this next step is a massive departure from its previous look.
Most notably, Resurgence are no more - they are now called RSG. Fortunately, since they've been using the RSG tag in games, it's not a huge departure, but we suspect it'll take some time for casters to get used to saying 'RSG' instead of Resurgence!
Next up is the logo - no longer do they have the large phoenix wings, instead it has been incorporated into the 'R' of the logo. A nice, subtle touch that's very modern yet reminiscent of the original look. Fortunately, they've kept the blue and white color scheme for the uniforms, so it shouldn't throw any fans off guard.
This rebrand marks the organization's plans to expand in the rest of the region. The company now has operations in Vietnam and Myanmar and aims to reach a 150 million gaming audience in Southeast Asia by 2021.
“The rebrand reflects our on-going commitment to innovate and evolve ahead of the pulse of the esports scene. In 2017, we started with a mission to empower and nurture aspiring players by creating opportunities for sustainable esports careers in Singapore. Today, we are on track to achieve a projected three-fold increase in revenue for our financial year, despite the pandemic’s impact. RSG is dedicated to showcase Singapore esports to a regional stage and raise the bar, as we scale up and diversify our offerings to other synergistic aspects of the gaming and esports market”, said RSG’s Founder and CEO, Jayf Soh.
RSG are currently competing in the E1 Championship, and will also be part of the upcoming One Esports MPL Invitational. Check out their new website and full announcement.
RRQ, the MPL Indonesia Season 5 champions, stomped to a 3-0 grand final victory over Resurgence to be crowned champions of the MPL Invitational Cup (MPLI) 2020. Remarkably, the squad did not drop a single game throughout the tournament - a testament to their undisputed status as the region's best MLBB team.
Earlier in the day, MPL-MY/SG Season 5 champions Resurgence defeated MPL Myanmar champions, Burmese Ghouls, 2-1, which earned them another opportunity to exact revenge over the dominant RRQ.
Although the Singaporean outfit yesterday lost to the Indonesian powerhouse, they looked much-improved and showed their own adaptability to the metagame and versatility, core components of RRQ's recent successes.
Despite Resurgence's confidence-boosting win over Burmese Ghouls earlier in the day, they were unable to cope with RRQ's quick rotations and near-flawless teamfight executions.
Resurgence surprised their opponents, casters and viewers alike with a strange line-up, picking Hilda, Wanwan, Gusion and Johnson - heroes rarely seen in the current meta!
RRQ won the first teamfight in the third minute which established an early lead for them. From there, their superior teamfight composition helped Xin's Ling to consistently claim kill after kill. By the 7th minute, RRQ had an 8k gold lead, and despite RSG's best efforts, their cheese strategy failed to make a significant impact.
Resurgence drafted a "regular" line-up, albeit without a hyper carrying Assassin or Marksman for ly4ly4ly4. Instead, they opted for a durable line-up with Esmeralda as their main damage dealer to counter Xin's Ling.
Nevertheless, the MPL-MY/SG champions failed to crack RRQ's resolve, falling to a 3k gold lead as early as the third minute. RRQ consistently stayed ahead of RSG throughout the game, winning little battles around the map. It didn't look like Resurgence offered a tough challenge as they were outmaneuvered in all the major teamfights.
An 11th minute Lord steal by ly4 and Kayzeepi gave them a reprieve, but RRQ's insurmountable lead put them 2-0 up in the series despite Resurgence's brave defense.
RRQ showed how strong they are with a surprising Balmond pick for off laner R7. Despite having a hero regarded as irrelevant in the current meta, RRQ dominated Resurgence from start to finish. The Indonesian champions only lost one tower in the whole game.
At the 15th minute, RRQ were 10k ahead in the gold charts. After Resurgence took a bad teamfight just outside their base, RRQ swiftly pushed in and ended the series 3-0, and claiming the MPL Invitational 4 Nation Cup 2020 title.
With this victory, RRQ claim their second professional title in as many tournaments, deservedly being acclaimed as the best MLBB team in Southeast Asia in the first half of 2020. With the MLBB World Championship M2 scheduled to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia later this year, RRQ look like a strong contender if they keep up their current hot streak.
Three teams remained as the MPL Invitational 4 Nation Cup (MPLI) 2020 entered the final day of the Playoffs: MPL-ID champions RRQ, MPL-MY/SG champions Resurgence and MPL-MM champions Burmese Ghouls.
The opening series was the lower bracket final between Resurgence and Burmese Ghouls. The sides met earlier on Day 1 with the Singaporean outfit triumphing 2-0. However, the champions of Myanmar had overcome difficult odds on Day 2, eliminating both Geek Fam and EVOS Legends in the lower bracket.
Resurgence established an early lead with an aggressive line-up including Esmeralda, Lou Yi and Roger. Burmese Ghouls, on the other hand, opted for durability by securing both Uranus and Baxia, with Ace's Hayabusa being their main damage dealer.
As the game entered its midpoint, both teams' power levels were relatively even despite Resurgence having the gold lead. Teamfights were extended affairs which ultimately played to Resurgence's strength in positioning and decision-making.
With Resurgence pulling slightly ahead after each teamfight victory, they finally took the game after 17 minutes.
With their tournament lives on the line, Burmese Ghouls opted to completely switch up their draft, picking four different heroes from Game 1. It was a more traditional hyper carry line-up built around Ace's Karrie.
From a variety of viewpoints, it was a risky move, as Resurgence have been known to be aggressors in the early game, capable of punishing greedy teams. In fact, Burmese Ghouls had earlier lost 7-31 to Resurgence when they drafted Karrie on Day 1.
Nevertheless, history did not repeat itself. Kudos to Burmese Ghouls to stay in the game despite losing both red buffs at the start of the game and losing a Turtle to Jason's Flameshot.
With the series in the balance, both teams approached the final game cautiously, opting for Marksmen like Bruno (BG) and Granger (RSG), rather than Assassins of the current meta.
The start followed the script of the other two games with Resurgence once again leading the game and Burmese Ghouls hanging on. However, Resurgence made fewer mistakes and had a better late-game composition. Sana's Kaja was instrumental in causing havoc and making key pickoffs, with Jason's Pharsa dealing an insane amount of damage.
Despite Burmese Ghouls valiant defense, the MPL-MY/SG champions were too clean in their teamfight execution, methodically taking down key objectives until they secured victory after 18 minutes.
With this victory, Resurgence book another date with MPL-ID Season 5 champions RRQ, a team to whom they lost in the upper bracket final to be played later today.
Fans can catch the MPLI action live on eGG Network TV, Astro Arena, Facebook or YouTube.
After two weeks of MPL-MY/SG action, Resurgence's star has been the brightest. The Singapore squad has an impeccable 3-match win streak without even dropping a single game. They are 6-0 in terms of games played and clocked Season 5’s quickest match, ending their second game against Siren Clan in 7 minutes 27 seconds!
Resurgence's MPL S5 line-up sees Season 1 champions Jason, ly4ly4ly4 and SynC reunite.
Eugene “Kayzeepi” Kong, Resurgence’s captain, expressed satisfaction at his team’s current performance. “The results so far have been within our expectations because we’ve been practising and encouraging one another when the going gets tough.”
The going has indeed been tough for this group of players. SynC, ly4ly4ly4 and Jason were part of IDNS SG, who won the inaugural season of MPL-MY/SG. However, since then, their performance has suffered.
Last season, SynC decided to take a break from the competitive scene to focus on livestreaming. Ly4ly4ly4 and Jason qualified for the Regular Season but failed to make it into the Playoffs, finished 9th – a far cry from their Season 1 glory days. But the darkness is beginning to pass. Kayzeepi, Jason, ly4ly4ly4, Sana and SynC were part of Season 3’s Bigetron SG team which finished a respectable third.
Surveying the results over the past few seasons, Kayzeepi shared that they’ve seen a marked improvement this season because “each of us have grown as team players because we’ve been exposed to a variety of leadership styles while on different teams. Additionally, none of us are serving in the Singapore National Service (NS) anymore, so we have more time to work on our craft now.”
Kayzeepi made his competitive debut in MPL-MY/SG Season 3, where they finished third.
Resurgence has indeed been working on their craft. In touch in the meta, they’ve been a frequent user of the Flameshot Battle Spell to devastating effect. Artha, captain of Team SMG remarked that the Battle Spell is overpowered, but Kayzeepi is more conservative in his evaluation. “In my opinion, some teams might actually disagree and say that the Battle Spell is not good at all. Every region has different strategies they think are good. At the end of the day, it depends on a team’s playstyle.” Flameshot has undoubtedly paid off for Resurgence’s hyper-aggressive strategies, who averages 11 minutes 45 seconds per game – the fastest time in the league.
Related: Flameshot is an issue.
Taking a break in the third week of the Regular Season, Resurgence next face Team SMG, who are also sitting on an impressive string of victories. However, Kayzeepi is unfazed about the opposition, saying that will approach each game with confidence, but never underestimate their opponents. “As a team, we are not nervous, but they are strong and we respect them a lot. We’ll try our best in every match and let our performance and stats do the talking.”
Despite the blue and white’s red-hot form, Season 4 grand finalist Todak did give them a run for their money in their week 2 match-up, taking the game to 20 minutes 31 seconds. Although Todak’s performance has nosedived since heroically claiming third at the MLBB World Championship, M1 in the Axiata Arena, they did put up a tough fight against the Singaporeans.
Kayzeepi in action against EVOS during their MPL S4 lower bracket final.
Kayzeepi coached Resurgence in Season 4 and is no stranger to the difficulty of adjusting to the meta and making sure that a team maximises its strength and weaknesses. “During my time as a coach, I felt that I can only do so much for the team in terms of preparing drafts and helping them improve their strategies. It can be quite nerve-wrecking if what we visualise doesn’t pan out.” Resting on one's laurels is never an option.
He did don the player mantle during the Playoffs, as he stood-in for Mr. Vi in their final series against EVOS SG.
For him, a coach and a player perform very different functions on a team. “I prefer being a player because I don’t feel stressed when the game is happening. That’s because I can work with my teammates to execute the exact plan I have in my mind.” Many things are out of the hands of a coach, and Kayzeepi’s presence in-game has certainly contributed to the high-flying team’s results. As a Tank/Support player, he averages 8.67 assists per game (APG), behind teammate Jason’s 10.17 APG and Xorn’s 9.71 APG.
Kayzeepi was named the Week 2's Player of the Week for his performances on Carmilla, Valir and Khufra.
The captain with a bubbly personality has played four heroes so far: Grock (twice), Valir (twice), Khufra (once) and Carmilla (once). However, he remains mum about the strongest heroes in the current competitive meta, pointing out that “each team has its own crucial heroes and we won’t reveal ours! You’ll have to stay tuned to our next game, see how we draft and play. Then perhaps fans and other teams can guess which heroes we truly value.”
One might say that Resurgence have had a relatively easy start to the season. Two of the teams they’ve faced are propping up the table in the elimination zone. However, they next face in-form Team SMG on 21 Mar (Saturday) and Geek Fam on 22 Mar (Sunday) to truly test their mettle. If they emerge unscathed, they would surely have built a strong case to be serious title contenders.
Follow Resurgence’s Facebook page for more updates and you can catch their next MPL-MY/SG matches live on MLBB’s Facebook page.
MPL-MY/SG is organised by eGG Network.
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