MPL MENA, the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) league for the Middle East and North Africa, has unveiled a range of changes for its seventh season.

The league says the changes will offer ‘a more streamlined competitive structure’ alongside a multi-year deal with Saudi Arabian esports organisation Twisted Minds.

According to a press release, the changes made to MPL MENA ‘reflect the league’s strategy to strengthen the professionalism and commercial viability of the esports ecosystem in MENA’ in order to improve the sustainability of teams competing in the league.

“The new format reflects our commitment to fostering a professional and sustainable esports ecosystem in the region,” said Ray Ng, Head of Esports Ecosystem at MOONTON Games.

“They mark a new era of structural innovation that lays the foundation for a scalable and commercially viable ecosystem in MENA, by giving participating clubs more stability and runway to attract long-term sponsorships, build stronger rosters, and deepen fan engagement.”

Starting with Season 7, the league will implement a single annual qualification model where one set of qualification matches will take place in the first half of the year.

Additionally, a 4+2+2 team selection will feature. The top four teams from the previous season will earn a place alongside two invited teams and two teams from the open qualifiers.

Season 7 of MPL MENA will offer teams in the region a chance to compete at the MLBB Mid-Season Cup, which is taking place at the 2025 Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Mid-Season Cup is scheduled for the third week of the multi-title event alongside PUBG Mobile, StarCraft II, Honor of Kings, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

Below are all of the confirmed changes arriving as part of Season 7:

MPL MENA isn’t the only MLBB league that has made changes in 2025. Season 9 of MPL Singapore has adjusted its format with the aim of creating long-term stability within the region.

Astralis has decided to bench Counter-Strike in-game leader (IGL) Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller ahead of PGL Astana in May.

The European esports organisation has replaced cadiaN with stand-in Rasmus ‘HooXi’ Nielsen, who had been inactive since being benched by G2 Esports in July last year.

Astralis’ decision was made public in a post on X (formerly Twitter) earlier today. According to the organisation’s CEO, Jakob Hansen, the current Counter-Strike 2 roster had not performed as anticipated.

“Casper has proven himself to be a true professional. However, in the end, neither he nor the team managed to reach the level of play we had all hoped for. We wish Casper all the best going forward,” explained the CEO.

CadiaN has been with Astralis for only seven months after being acquired from Team Liquid in September last year. As a veteran in the Counter-Strike scene, the Danish player secured some of his biggest competitive achievements as part of Heroic, winning the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Rio Major in 2022 and the BLAST Premier: Spring Final in 2023.

Despite promising results at last year’s BLAST Premier: World Final and PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, cadiaN and Astralis failed to qualify for the upcoming Austin Major. The team was defeated by Ukrainian squad B8 during the event qualifier, marking the Astralis’ fifth consecutive missed Major.

Following Astralis’ announcement, the IGL shared an ominous post on his personal X account: “Interesting times. Will share more later.”

Starting tomorrow, cadiaN’s replacement HooXi will be training with the remaining roster to represent Astralis as a stand-in during the upcoming PGL Astana. The fellow Dane has won several international trophies with his former organisation, G2 Esports, including IEM Katowice and Cologne 2023.

Together with today’s roster moves, Astralis also announced the departure of its Sports Director Kasper Straube, who had been with the organisation since 2023.

“As a consequence of our lackluster results, culminating in the missed Major qualification, we are today parting ways with Sports Director Kasper Straube and In-Game Leader Casper “cadiaN” Møller,” shared Hansen.

“He has been dedicated, professional, and loyal to Astralis throughout his time here. I want to thank Kasper for his hard work with the team and the organization, and I wish him the very best for the future.”

Smash hit hero shooter Marvel Rivals announced a new limited-time mode called Giant-Sized Brain Blast, launching on April 25th.

This new party mode will see all characters with inflated heads for silly and chaotic matches, alongside offering limited-time rewards such as titles, emotes, and more during Season 2: Hellfire Gala.

The announcement was made on X by the official Marvel Rivals account on April 22nd, 2025.

In the post, the account said: “Heads up – literally! Introducing Giant-Size Brain Blast, the most mind-blowing mode in Marvel Rivals! Get in, get huge, and get your name on that leaderboard. Score free event-exclusive titles and an emote just for playing.

“Starting April 25th, everyone’s rocking oversized noggins and even bigger plays. Big heads, big fights, BIG FUN.”

There will be leaderboards based on ratings for each character in the game. These leaderboards will reset every event round, which will offer a clean slate for new players to earn a top spot for their favourite character. However, this mode is not competitive enough to hit the esports scene.

During the trailer, the in-game description said: “After each event round, players ranked in the Top 10, Top 100, and Top 500 will receive the corresponding reward [Titles].

Title rewards will be automatically credited to your account, so keep an eye on your mail for the reward notification. Once claimed, titles can be equipped via Career – Customize – Title.”

These are the rewards available to earn based on rankings, which reset each event round.

There will also be Brain-Blast emotes available for each character, which you can earn and redeem for a chosen hero after completing 10 matches in the new mode. As you can imagine, the emote inflates your character’s head to similar proportions as seen in the new game mode.

This isn’t the first time we’ve had limited-time modes in Marvel Rivals, following the previous season’s Clone Rumble, and last year’s Jeff’s Winter Splash Festival shortly after the game first launched.

The smash hit game has also seen a variety of limited-time in-game tournaments as well, such as the seasonal Marvel Rivals Championships, and the recently announced monthly PlayStation Cups. So, whether you’re looking for competitive or chaotic fun, this month has plenty to offer on Marvel Rivals.