The 2026 Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid Season Cup was the ninth iteration for the multiplayer online battle arena game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and the third edition under the name "Mid Season Cup".
The ninth iteration was the third-consecutive edition to be a part of the internationally sanctioned Esports World Cup tournament as one of its main esports titles. Moreover, it is the first edition of the tournament to be held in Europe, specifically Paris, France, as the Esports World Cup moved from Riyadh due to the war in Iran.
Defending champions Team Liquid PH failed to defend their title after an early group stage exit. In the Grand Finals, EECA's Team Spirit defeated Myanmar's Yangon Galacticos, 4-3 to win the title, becoming the first western team to do so in MLBB history. The team's EXP Laner, Mathaios "Kid Bomba" Chatzilakos, was named Finals MVP.
Format MSC 2026 featured 25 teams, an increase from 23 in the previous edition however, participating teams in the respective stages have largely remained the same – 16 teams participating in groups and 10 teams participating in the wild card, an increase from 8 in 2025.
Wild card stage Similarly to the previous edition, the wildcard stage occurred first before the group stage. All ten wild card teams were split into two groups of five where each played a single-round robin Best-of-1 tournament. The top seeded teams from both groups advanced directly to the Wild Card Stage Decider Bracket. Meanwhile, teams seeded two would receive a bye-round in the Cross Group Gauntlet while seeds three and four would qualify for the Cross Group Gauntlet's first round. The Cross Gauntlet is a single-elimination bracket with only two teams advancing to the decider. Only one team from the Decider Bracket advances to the group stage.
If two or more teams finished with the same points, the standings are determined in accordance with the Official Rulebook's tiebreaker. The official MSC tiebreaker is as follows:
If the ranking of the tied teams cannot be determined by ranking points, the tied teams will be ranked by head-to-head record. If the ranking of the tied teams cannot be determined by head-to-head record, the tied teams will be ranked by winning time (only the time of winning games)—the less time the team used, the higher ranking the team is. If the ranking of the tied teams cannot be determined by winning time (only the time of winning games), the tied teams will be ranked by the shortest single-game winning time, the less time the team used, the higher rank the team is. If the shortest single-game winning time (only the time of winning games) are still the same, then the longest single-game winning time will be compared. The less time the team used, the higher rank the team is. All match time data is based on the in-game results screen.
Group stage The group stage followed thereafter. Unlike MSC 2025 where teams were subdivided into four different double-elimination GSL formats for the group stage, MSC 2026 featured two group stage double-elimination brackets. The group stage draw was conducted after the conclusion of the wild card stage with the main stipulation being that no two-teams from the same region is allowed to get drawn in the same match as the other, eliminating the possibility of a same-group elimination for a single region but rather the potential two-way elimination by a single region for both Groups A and B (e.g., Philippines has a team in Group A and Group B and both of them gets eliminated, hence a two-way elimination for a single region.) Similarly to the rulebook, the MSC tiebreaker was followed for this tournament as announced by the reporters during the first day of the livestream. Knockout stage The precipice of the tournament is the single-elimination knockout stage which was introduced during the 2024 edition of the tournament. All games apart from the Grand Finals are Best-of-5s while the Grand Finals was a Best-of-7. Similar to the 2025 edition, the battle-for-third also returned.
Venue Originally planned to be hosted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 20, it was announced that the EWC will be moving its tournament for the first time since inception from Riyadh to Paris due to the "current regional situation". With this move, both MWI and MSC 2026 became the first tournament in the competitive year to be hosted in a venue outside of Asia and a major tournament sanctioned by Moonton to be hosted outside of the Asian continent. Both MWI and MSC 2026 will be hosted at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles in Versailles, Paris, France. Paris, FranceGroup Stage and Knockout Stage Paris Expo Porte de Versailles
Qualified teams Fifteen teams qualified outright for the group stage with teams from the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional Leagues of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia having two direct qualifiers to the group stage, and one qualifiers each – all of which are champions – from the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional Leagues of Cambodia, Singapore, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the MTC Championship in Turkey, the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Continental Championship (MCC) champion from the Commonwealth of Independent States or the EECA, and the inaugural tournaments of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Championship Tour for East Asia in Shanghai and the Americas, and the inaugural Moba Legends Masters Series in India.
Ten teams across the newly established Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Championship Tour groups will qualify for wild cards with two representatives coming from the SEA region – primarily from Thailand and Mekong – three from the EMEA region – particularly from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Turkey, and Europe – one from the EECA region – particularly the runner-up of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Continental Championship (MCC) – three from the EA region – particularly second through fourth place of the first leg of the Shanghai Tour – and the runner-up from the AMER region.
Several changes from the previous season includes the following: MCT East Asia will be given one main stage slot and three wild card slots, replacing the four combined slots held by national qualifiers in China, Japan, and Mongolia. MCT Americas will be given one main stage slot and one wild card slot, replacing the three combined slots held by the North America Challenger Tournament (NACT) and MPL Latin America. This also means that the Americas region has one less slot. The MLMS is given one main stage slot. MSL Thailand is given one wild card slot. Thai teams can still qualify via MCC Mekong as an alternate pathway. The MEC is given one wild card slot. The Vietnam MLBB Championship (VMC) no longer has a slot, but remains a qualifier for MCC Mekong, retaining the pathway for Vietnamese teams.
Legend:Defending MSC championsFormer MSC champions Best Finish – Knockout StageBest Finish – Group Stage Best Finish – Wild Card Stage First Time Qualifiers
MCT Region Subregion League Path Team Starting from group stage MPL ID Season 17 champions Team Vitality Season 17 runners-up Onic Esports MPL PH Season 17 champions Team Liquid PH Season 17 runners-up Team Falcons PH MPL MY Season 17 champions Selangor Red Giants Season 17 runners-up Team Vamos MPL SG Season 11 champions IGNITE Gaming MPL KH Season 10 champions PRO Esports MSL MM Season 3 champions Yangon Galacticos MPL MENA Season 9 champions Geekay Esports MTC Season 7 champions Aurora Gaming MCC Season 7 champions Team Spirit East Asia MCT EA Season 1 champions Guangzhou Gaming Americas MCT AMER Season 1 champions Entity7 MLMS Season 1 champions True Rippers Starting from wild card stage MSL-THSeason 1 champions King of Gamers ClubMCCMSeason 7 champions Niightmare Esports MPL MENA Season 9 runners-up Team Falcons MTC Season 7 runners-up FUT Esports MEC Season 2 champions VSG MCC Season 7 runners-up Verso Time East Asia MCT EA Season 1 runners-up The MongolZ Season 1 third place The Huns Esports Season 1 fourth place Sunset Ravens Americas MCT AMER Season 1 runners-up Alpha7 North
Rosters Notable in this edition was all five-past finals MVPs have qualified to the tournament which includes Grant Duane "Kelra" Pillas (2021), Eman "EMANN" Sangco (2022), Nicky "Kiboy" Pontonuwu (2023), Muhammad "Sekys" Zaman (2024), and reigning finals MVP Sanford "Sanford" Vinuya (2025).
Legend:† Team Captain Defending Finals MVP Former Finals MVP