“I want to be known as a winner”: Top MLBB pros like Ashlay are dying to compete, but there are no tournaments in North America

The good thing about successful matches comes with the glory of enjoying extra high-stakes matches and the chance to develop.

In 2025, Gaimin Gladiators grew to become the primary North American staff to make it to the Cell Legends: Bang Bang worldwide remaining on the Esports World Cup Ladies’s Invitational.

The staff featured 4 American gamers – Ashley “Ashlay” Ann, Cindy “Panda” Zhou, Jessica Qi-Yao “Sayori” Cao, and Nicole “Nicholette” Huang – making it a implausible feat for a recreation that’s underrepresented within the nation.

However then issues stalled.

Think about ready a whole 12 months to compete at a world match for one spot within the Esports World Cup Ladies’s Invitational.

That’s what most of Ashlay’s present Gen.G and former Gaimin Gladiators teammates went by means of regardless of ending second on the 2025 Esports World Cup MLBB: Ladies’s Invitational.

Whereas Ashlay had the chance to play for Vendetta’s co-gendered roster throughout MCT Americas Cut up 1, her teammates weren’t competing on a publicly introduced aggressive stage for the higher a part of the 12 months. The opposite members of Gaimin Gladiators don’t have any different logged occasions on Liquipedia; for many, their final entries are both the EWC MWI or its qualifier.

A part of this is because of North America’s lack of curiosity in cell gaming. It doesn’t carry the identical cachet as its console or PC counterparts, and it doesn’t have the identical cultural resonance in North America that it does in elements of the world like Southeast Asia.

So whereas MLBB stays one of many world’s most-viewed esports, in response to Esports Charts, it’s comparatively unknown within the West.

Ashlay’s answer is easy: extra tournaments, extra publicity. It’s a basic Catch-22 – extra tournaments assist discover gamers and showcase stars, however with out an viewers, it’s tough to host extra occasions.

Whereas Gen.G took a leap of religion in bringing on a lot of the staff that completed second in 2025, it wasn’t sufficient to trigger a seismic shift in curiosity for the sport. In actual fact, it marked the third banner Ashlay, Panda, and Sayori had performed beneath in three years on the EWC (Cloud9 Feminine in 2024, Gaimin Gladiators in 2025, Gen.G in 2026).

Most of that may be tied to the profitable prize pool that comes with the EWC Membership Championships, however successful often doubtless secures longer-term investments, like Crew Vitality’s dedication to their ladies’s MLBB staff by means of 2030.

Esports Basis Deputy CEO and COO Mike McCabe stated the EF discovered worth within the MLBB ladies’s ecosystem and its total power in Southeast Asia, in addition to its rising affect in East Asia and Western Europe.

However whereas the EF can provide a stage, he positioned the emphasis on publishers like MOONTON to do their half in constructing gaming ecosystems in smaller areas.

“The publishers have an enormous half to play on this as a result of nobody half can do that by itself,” McCabe stated. “We are able to’t do it on our personal. We’d like the publishers, we’d like the communities, we’d like the golf equipment to have the ability to construct these pathways and construct these alternatives.”

So, the place ought to MOONTON begin to construct extra affect in the USA?

Look no additional than Ashlay.

Ashlay hates touring to internationals. The airplane rides are tiring, and being away from house and routine can simply weigh on her.

However the expertise as soon as she arrives is irreplaceable, and as a competitor, Ashlay gained’t go up an opportunity to show her talents in opposition to others.

“The expertise itself is what makes my job enjoyable and particular,” Ashlay stated. “I acquired to see all of those different skilled gamers. I acquired to expertise social media, [doing] this content material factor that I usually don’t do. And I additionally get to indicate my aggressive aspect on an enormous stage.”

Sure, she does have an Instagram web page, however Ashlay isn’t obsessive about it.

She additionally doesn’t need to be thought of an envoy or influencer for MLBB in the USA.

At the very least for now.

“For me personally, I really don’t need to be an influencer or an envoy or no matter it’s. If I’m, I need to win,” she stated. “First, I need to be a champion, and I need to be recognized for that, quite than the rest.”

Ashlay and Gen.G completed within the ninth–twelfth placements at MWI, falling to the 2 groups that made it to the finals on back-to-back days.

It began the clock for Gen.G’s subsequent worldwide match in 2027.

Except issues change, in fact.

Whether or not or not Ashlay competes in MCT Americas Cut up 2 stays unconfirmed.

In actual fact, data on Cut up 2 is nearly nonexistent proper now – no dates, no timeline, not even an expectation of when or the place it would occur.

However as for enjoying alongside her Gen.G teammates, except one thing dramatic occurs, they’re most likely on the sidelines till summer season 2027.

Ashlay is simply one of many fascinating and charismatic gamers within the MLBB scene. She may be one option to carry extra gamers into the sport, alongside different American gamers.

The primary core of Gaimin Guardian’s run that made it to the MWI Championship in 2025 got here from the USA, so it’s not a expertise concern there.

It’s a structural wrestle for these gamers to get the high-level reps and aggressive stage matches that will assist them construct all the pieces from the nuances of calling a tech pause to the routine of video overview and scrimmaging.

Whereas Ashlay may be one of many faces of the MLBB scene in the USA, it’s a meaningless function to her with no trophy.

“I need to be often known as a winner,” she stated after a loss to eventual champion Crew Vitality – a defeat that also left hope of a title alive. That hope ended the next day with a loss to Natus Vincere Philippines.

However being often known as a winner may be placing the cart earlier than the horse.

Successful requires enjoying.

That’s the place the wrestle is.

It’s exhausting to win. However successful in your one shot? That’s a tall order.

Esports Insider’s journey and lodging for the Esports World Cup was paid for by the Esports Basis. The Esports Basis had no editorial enter into this piece.