Ugyen Dorji | Intern

Phuntsho Zangpo, considered the best player of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang in Bhutan, started playing MOBA games (multiplayer online battle arena) when he was in Class III. After playing many MOBA games, he came across Mobile Legends in 2018. He was in Class XI then.

“I saw my brothers and friends playing Mobile Legends and I started to play as well. I loved the game because of its similar concept to DOTA,” says Phuntsho. He used to spend six hours playing Mobile Legends when in school and more than 11 hours during vacations.

It has now been two years after he completed his high school.

He goes by the name ICY 1LASTSEC while playing Mobile Legends and his squad ICY has nine members. His squad played almost 12 big Mobile Legends tournaments inside Bhutan, which included good teams from Bhutan and other countries.

With six wins (squad) and four tournaments Most Valuable Player (MVP), Phuntsho Zangpo is very happy with his achievements so far.

Many Bhutanese Mobile Legends streamers and players say that Phuntsho Zangpo is the best Mobile Legends player in Bhutan. MAYNIA, a well-known Mobile Legends streamer with almost 50 thousand followers on his page and a great ML player in Bhutan told Phuntsho: “You have a potential to be one of the best players in the world if you play with the best ping (MS). Bhutan does not have a good ping.” Ping is the network latency between a player’s computer and the game’s server.

Phuntsho Zangpo is considered not only a good Mobile Legends player in Bhutan but also in some other countries by Mobile Legends players.

A very great player from Indonesia, who once was a holder of world rank 1 for Mobile Legends (Alucard), once invited him to play in his squad. Phuntsho Zangpo could not leave his own squad and refused the invitation.

Some spend a huge amount of money on the games without receiving anything in return. In his case, Phuntsho Zangpo has not spent any money in the game but has received a lot of gifts worth Nu 110,000 for the game so far.

Despite being a good player, Phuntsho Zangpo talks about the bad sides of e-sports such as health issues; youth’s heavy engagement in e-sports and the problems they give to their parents and education. But then, there are good sides to e-sports, he concedes.

 “Once you become successful with e-sports, you can make easy money,” says Phuntsho Zangpo.

Phuntsho had even decided to go to Thailand in the hope of becoming a successful Mobile Legends player. He wasn’t able to go to Bangkok, of course, because of the pandemic and the many restrictions.

But the plan remains. His parents support his decision.

“I am confident that I can become a successful Mobile Legends player in the future. I can make a living from it,” says Phuntsho.

Edited by Jigme Wangchuk