Zaim and Sasa return for Team SMG at MPL MY Season 11

With some poor results in 2022, Team SMG look to rebuild their roster and maybe make their way into to upper echelons of Malaysia MPL again.

_{headline image courtesy of Team SMG}

Following a magnificent Season 8 in the Malaysian Mobile Legends Professional League, Team SMG encounters some major hurdles, as both Season 9 and 10 were disastrous for the organisation. Even after bringing in a Philippines representative in the form of ex-ONIC PH player Jaylord “Hate” Gonzales, SMG struggled to get a firm grip on the last season, and slumped out in the first round of the playoffs. However, with Season 11 on the horizon, Team SMG have gone back to a full MY roster, keeping some of their best players, while adding some new ones to hopefully get them back to their best.

Team SMG have managed to keep three of their players which took them to their MPL MY Season 8 victory in 2021, with Muhammad “ZAIM” Zaim, Aeliff Adam “Smooth” Md Ariff, and Lu “Sasa” Khai Bean all finding their place within the roster again. Another player that remains on the roster is Raja Mohamad “Nuar” Anwar Raja Arif Shah, the roamer which joined prior to Season 10. However, there are a few new names joining the roster, including Luk “Valenz” Jun Yip from Team HAQ.

The full new Team SMG roster is:

• Aeliff Adam “Smooth” Md Ariff
• Wan Mohamad Danish “Subway” Safwan Bin Mohd Sakirin          
• Muhammad “ZAIM” Zaim
• Hazziq Danish “Stormie” Bin Mohamad Rizwan
• Lu “Sasa” Khai Bean
• Luk “Valenz” Jun Yip
• Raja Mohamad “Nuar” Anwar Raja Arif Shah

The team have also seen the retirement of James Chen “James” Jui Teng, their coach since early 2021, which heralded the arrival of Nur Hanis Adlan “Haru” bin Adnan to take over the role for the upcoming season and moving forward.

Whether or not Team SMG will be able to utilise these new members to leapfrog the rest of MY’s greatest MLBB teams in Season 11 or if they will remain struggling in the mid-table remains to be seen. But, with that said, we are all excited to see more of ZAIM and his brilliance when Season 11 comes around later this month.