Blacklist International’s superstar jungler Danerie James “Wise” Rosario may be basking in Esports glory, but he also went through a time when he thought of calling it quits as a professional Mobile Legends player.
Wise, together with his real-life partner Johnmar “OhMyV33nus” Villaluna, used to play for ONIC PH where they came close to winning a Mobile Legends Professional League Philippines title in Seasons 4 and 5 with a second-place finish.
Now, the V33wise duo rose to become a three-time MPL Philippines champion, Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, the M3 Mobile Legends world champion, and two of the 11 Hall of Legends inductees — the kind of success Wise never thought of achieving.
“Our ups and downs flashed back to me as a duo. When we started to wear the Hall of Legends jacket, we cried because we felt that we did not do enough (in the past),” Wise shared.
“There was even a time when we almost quit as professional players and turn our focus to streaming. Now I am more motivated to play because the medal awarded to me made me realize the reason why I was playing.”
It was not just Wise and OhMyV33nus that made it to the first-ever MPL Philippines Hall of Legends. Joining them were Joshua “Ch4knu” Mangilog, Setsuna “Akosi Dogie” Ignacio, Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno, Angelo Kyle “Pheww” Arcangel, Jeniel “Yellyhaze” Bata-Anon, Carlito “Ribo” Ribo Jr., Brian “Panda” Lim, Christian “Rafflesia” Fajura and caster Manjean Faldas.
With their eyes on the prize of becoming the first organization in competitive Mobile Legends history to win back-to-back world championships when they compete at the M4 World Championships from 1 to 15 January in Jakarta, OhMyV33nus is at peace with the fact that whatever happens, their place in Philippine Esports history is already secured.
“After all these years, after all the struggles and sacrifices, we can already say that we are legends,” OhMyV33nus said.
“It makes me happy because even if I die tomorrow people would remember me. I never dreamed of having what we have now of winning so many championships.”