What is SIBOL’s 6th-Man Pose?

And Why the Entire Philippines Is Now Part of the Lineup

During the SEA Games send-off stage, the Philippine national team for esports, SIBOL, did something that looked oddly like a secret handshake: Five fingers out, one finger pointing to the back of your palm.

This, apparently, is the Ka-6th Man Pose—SIBOL’s newly christened salute to the people who cheer loudest, cry hardest, and tweet fastest. Their families. Their fans. Their entire barangay-level support system. You.

In the gospel according to SIBOL, there are five players onstage and one more behind them, always—pointed out, literally, by that extra finger.

“Ikaw na nanonood… kayo po ang official na 6th man ng Team SIBOL,” team correspondent Manjean Faldas announced like he was knighting an entire nation. 

In sports, he explained, the sixth man is the crowd, the bench, the roar behind the big play. In esports, it’s even more literal: every win is carried by the hands you never see on camera.

“So pag tinawag kang 6th man, parte ka. Parte ka ng Team SIBOL.”

SIBOL’s newest correspondent, Chanelle Hernandez, sealed the point: “Ang achievement ng team… achievement ng lahat.”

In other words: if the team gets gold, you get bragging rights. Forever.

The March to Bangkok (With a Sixth Man in Tow)

So the pose is more than a pose. It’s a rallying cry as SIBOL heads to Bangkok for the 33rd Southeast Asian Games, armed with rosters that read like a collector’s edition of Filipino esports history.

The Men’s MLBB lineup

A Frankenstein of brilliance:

• Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno, the SIBOL’s 2019 golden boy and MLBB Esports GOAT
  
• Kiel “Oheb” Soriano, IESF silver medalist and certified heartbreaker
  
• Sanford, Sanji, Jaypee, Caloy—names that have broken enough metas to warrant their own textbook
  
• Coaches Ar Sy Cruz and Tictac Reyes, because even champions need shepherds
  

Their mission? A very chill, completely low-stakes initiative: win the country’s fourth straight MLBB gold.

The Women’s MLBB lineup

Fresh off a silver and hungry for its natural upgrade:

• Keishi, Amoree, Ayanami, Shinoa, Meraaay, and CLA, guided by KingSalman
  A team equal parts calm precision and unsupervised chaos—the good kind, the medal-winning kind.
  

Arena of Valor (AOV)

Five men—Cabaguing, Ejercito, Gonzaga, Mariño, Odtuhan—quietly plotting a podium finish of their own.

AOV is the sleeper hit, which Thailand considers its esports main event. 

Events run from December 13 to 19 at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. 

For more exclusive esports stories, click here.