It shouldn’t be too surprising, considering how well the ‘Man With a Million Moves’ plays.
AP.Bren’s James “Jamespangks” Mendoza has got that competitive fire burning bright in him and you can clearly see that even when he’s relaxing.
We got to quickly catch up with the young Jungler and ask how he spends his days off during the advanced screening of Mortal Kombat II presented by Warner Bros.-Discovery in partnership with The GAME.
However, it seems like Jamespangks has a one track mind as he says he doesn’t play any other video games other than Mobile Legends. He’ll play some billiards during downtime but otherwise it’s MLBB all the way.
Of course, there’s no way MLBB was the first video game he played. So, what exactly was it?Unsurprisingly, it’s the original Dota but the budding gamer played it in the craftiest way possible.
“May computer shop na malapit sa amin,” narrates AP.Bren’s Jamespangks. “At yung ginagawa ko, yung natitirang oras ng mga tapos na maglaro, linalaro ko kase wala pa akong pera noon.”
“Nanonood din ako ng Dota kasi ‘yun yung usong game sa amin. Na-adapt ko din yung mga ginagawa nila. Na try ko versus AI.”
To think, from being a kid in a computer shop, playing against Dota’s AI bots on people’s spare time, to playing professionally in the MPL Philippines, the toughest MLBB league in the world. Jamespangks even sees how those early days helped lead him to becoming a MLBB pro.
“Nung tumanda na ako, mga 13 years old, doon nila ako linaban sa mga tournament at pustahan.” At that age, MLBB would have just released here in the Philippines. And if a 13 year old was already playing in tournaments and succeeding, then it’s no wonder that Jamespangks is where he is today.
Banner image from MPL Philippines on Facebook.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Jamespangks’ first video game was the original Dota, which he played at a nearby computer shop using leftover time from other customers’ sessions before he could afford to pay for his own.
No, Jamespangks says he doesn’t play other video games and mostly plays billiards during his downtime, focusing his competitive energy entirely on Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
Jamespangks learned by watching others play Dota at his local computer shop and practicing against the game’s AI bots during unpaid downtime, before eventually competing in tournaments and bets by age 13.
Jamespangks began competing in MLBB tournaments and bets around age 13, shortly after Mobile Legends: Bang Bang was first released in the Philippines.
Jamespangks plays as a jungler for AP.Bren in MPL Philippines, competing in what the article describes as the toughest Mobile Legends: Bang Bang league in the world.
