MANILA -- From qualifying to the playoffs by a hairline in Season 9, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang team Omega Esports catapulted to the grand finals and qualified to the Southeast Asia Cup in Malaysia as a result.

Because of this, their manager Persian Cas had to work double-time to meet her players' travel requirements.

“Sa MSC, talagang naging struggle ang passport kasi some of them ni-require na beforehand lalo na 'yung isang player. Kumbaga na hindi namin in-expect [na mag-qualify kami for MSC],” Cas shared in a panel interview last Friday.

Courtesy: MPL Philippines

In his vlog ahead of the Malaysia tilt held in June, Billy "Z4pnu" Alfonso bared that both Grant Duane "Kelra" Pillas and Joshua "Ch4knu" Mangilog were at risk of not making it into MSC as they were still waiting for their passports to be released.

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The roster, which won the MSC title last year in a remote setting, were eventually able to fly to Kuala Lumpur and secured third place. While Cas did not mention which players were affected, it served as a lesson now that they are gearing up to qualify for the world championships to be held in January in Jakarta.

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“Kaya sabi ko talaga this papasok noong right after MSC lahat ng players lahat ng bagong papasok kailangang ahead of time may passport. Ayan inasikaso ko booster [shots]. 'Pag 'di kayo nag- booster hilahin ko kayo since si Mikko lang naman ang medyo bago sa 'min and moving forward lalo na 'yung OMG minsan [ang performance] from here to there, 'yun 'yung biggest lesson ko talaga,” Cas said.

Echo Philippines and Bren Esports now also require their players to have valid IDs, which is a pre-requisite for passports “just in case.”

“I require them to have a valid ID and passport. Any time if our sister company Aura will send us to Indonesia, anytime pwede kami umalis. Also it's already 2021 -- you're already in the professional esports industry, just get a passport,” Echo Philippines country manager Mitch Liwanag said.

For Bren manager Adi Padilla, among the challenges are getting in touch with the parents of some players to get certain documents signed.

“Most of them pa are minors and siyempre galing sa broken family o malayo ang magulang sobrang hirap asikasuhin kasi kailangan kulitin mo parents, ‘Just sign this please, signature lang ang kailangan,” Padilla said.

“Now naman this season ang dami kong rookies and most of them they don't have their passports with them so 'yun ang inaasikaso para bago mag-start ang M4 season, bago pa, if ever, [sana makapasok muna playoffs], sine-secure na passports nila and paperworks,” she added.

In the case of Onic Philippines, who recently acquired players and coaching staff of amateur squad Monster Anarchy, they had to process these player requirements ahead of time.

"Pag galing amateur kasi 'di need ng ID. Kahit saan, kahit passport so when we first got to the pro scene we all had to prepare documents," David Gamboa, who is owner of Monster Anarchy, said.

Liwanag said this also serves a reminder to those who want to go pro in the MPL.

“You can't enter Echo without a valid ID and passport or if wala silang passport, I'm requiring them to have a receipt na kumuha na talaga sila. Kasi it's already a hassle kapag MPL season na they can't go out na puro practice sila so it's a hassle... [that's] my message for the aspiring players, Liwanag said.