RRQ Hoshi finally announces its complete lineup for MPL ID Season 8. Surprisingly, Muhammad “Lemon” Ikhsan doesn’t join the lineup this season. In the official announcement video, Lemon says that he wants to rest.
This season is the first time RRQ joins the battle without its most prominent player. From Season 1 until Season 7, Lemon has fought for RRQ relentlessly and brought three championships of MPL ID for his team. It’s even more surprising because Lemon is the only MPL player who stays in one team since the beginning of MPL in 2018. For so many fans, RRQ is Lemon; and Lemon is RRQ. Sadly, this is not the case anymore in Season 8.
However, if you are a true fan of MLBB esports, you might notice the signs of Lemon’s hiatus since a couple of tournaments ago. First, when RRQ Hoshi had to face Bren Esports in the lower bracket final of M2 World Championship, Lemon didn’t play for his team. Considering it’s a very crucial match, it’s peculiar for RRQ not to put its best player to fight.
Then, Lemon wasn’t always in the starting lineup in MPL ID Season 7. Against Genflix Aerowolf on the first day of MPL ID S7’s playoff, Lemon only joined in the third game. It’s also unusual for RRQ Hoshi to do that.
Maybe Lemon already felt exhausted for some time.
At the same time, RRQ didn’t do exceptionally well after Season 6. They lost to Burmese Ghouls in the M2 World Championship in the upper bracket and Bren Esports in the lower bracket. In MPL ID Season 7’s Regular Season, RRQ wasn’t consistent too. Then, they lost on the first day of the playoff against Aerowolf, which is unforeseen for so many people.
In an interview with Esports ID, Andrian Pauline, CEO of Team RRQ, said that every division in RRQ would get a total reset. He also noted that RRQ was holding trials for 20 players to get to the current MPL lineup. He’s hoping to find the players who could bring RRQ one step further.
With that, this is the official lineup for RRQ Hoshi in MPL ID Season 8:
- Albert “Albert” Neilsen Iskandar
- Deden “Clay” Muhammad Nurhasan
- Yesaya “XINNN” Omega Armando Wowiling
- Teguh “Psychoo” Imam Firdaus
- William “Liam” Setiawan
- Schevenko “Skylar” David Tendean
- Rivaldi “R7” Fatah
- Calvin “Vynnn”