The Untold Story of Daiki
Meet Kim Sebanes, aka Daiki, the sub who stole your MVP.
For a long time, only basketball and school were the things on Daiki’s mind. “I wasn’t interested in esports,” he told ALL-STAR.
Kim Sebanes, aka Daiki, was the typical college student taking up Civil Engineering. He wanted to build things, inspired by his uncle, who is also an engineer.
His favorite subjects were Science and Mathematics.
“Matalino ka?” we asked.
“Sakto lang! Medyo pasaway pero goods din sa studies.”
He says it with a dimpled smile that’s probably gotten him out of trouble more than once.
Unlike the majority of the professional esports players we’ve talked to, Daiki was the only one who prioritized school and other sports over Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
“Naka-focus rin ako sa studies noon, kahit gamer din ako. Ang priority ko rin noon ay physical sports like basketball. Yung MLBB, paraan siya ng bonding namin na magtotropa, ML saglit tapos maglalaro kami ng basketball.”
That was in 2019, and Daiki was in his first year in college.
In 2020, the pandemic changed his life.
He stopped attending school because online classes felt pointless—ineffective for anyone who actually wanted to learn. Not everything could be taught through modules.
The lessons suffered, but the tuition fees didn’t decrease. And Daiki wasn’t alone. Many families felt the same strain.
“Noong pandemic ako nag-start mag grind sa MLBB,” said Daiki.
“One time, ginusto ko maging pro at makapaglaro sa MPL, nagpa top global ako sa rank ko,” said Daiki.
In 2023, he climbed the global ranks and claimed the top spot in the Philippines for ranked game points—a feat made even more impressive given that the Philippines has one of the most competitive servers in the world.
“Nagbunga yung pagpupuyat ko nang halos 24/7!”
Many pro players in MLBB esports were discovered through their standings in the global and Philippine ranked ladders. Daiki was one of them.
“Doon ako na-scout ni Kuya Tets, manager ng RRQ,” said Daiki.
“Nagbunga yung pagpupuyat ko nang halos 24/7!”
“Yung tipong paggising ko, kain at ligo lang nang mabilisan tapos grind na ulit. Tapos tulog. Paulit-ulit lang. Gusto ko talagang ma-scout noong time na iyon.”
From there, things began to move faster. Amateur tournaments. MDL. Then, eventually, Team Liquid Philippines.
Now he sits on the MPL roster as a substitute gold laner. But he doesn’t play like one. In Week 1 of MPL PH Season 17, his performance in Game 1 was strong enough to earn him the MVP.
Daiki’s Hero Pool is Very Deep
We asked Daiki what his main heroes were. He doesn’t have any.
“Halos lahat ng marksmen nagagamit ko, saka fighters. Pati usual picks sa gold lane like Harith.”
That makes the drafter’s job easier—whatever hero Daiki is handed, it’s almost guaranteed to translate into a solid performance.
But the more interesting part of Daiki’s story is not what he does on the lane.
It’s how he sees the game.
Daiki the Observer
Even before the MPL call-up, he was already doing something else for his teams.
Watching.
Mitch Liwanag says Daiki has a very high battlefield IQ. He knows what’s happening on the map, what his teammates are doing, and is able to predict where the opponents are ganking.
When games went wrong, he noticed why. Small errors. Miscommunications. Decisions that didn’t make sense in hindsight but felt right in the moment.
“Iyon po kasi ang personality ko,” he says. “Kung ano ang nakikita ko para makatulong, sinasabi ko.”
And when he pointed them out, someone noticed his uncanny sense of the map: Mitch Liwanag.
She put him as the team’s analyst as his unofficial role.
By the time he was in MDL—and even during stretches when he wasn’t part of the active MPL lineup—he was already functioning as an MPL analyst. Breaking down games. Offering feedback. Understanding the map not just as a player inside it, but as someone looking from above.
On SIBOL: ‘Nakaka-pressure. Sobra.’
When Daiki was named as part of the SIBOL roster for the Asian Games as an analyst—it didn’t come out of nowhere. His whole team already saw his talent as someone notices many things they overlook.
For the Philippines, the Asian Games is just as big as the Olympics. Medals are rare. Gold is even rarer. And now, with Mobile Legends included, there’s a real chance to win one.
For Daiki, it’s something else entirely.
“Sobrang saya.”
He says it carefully, like he understands the weight of it but hasn’t fully processed it yet.
But alongside that happiness is something more immediate.
Pressure.
Daiki knows the people he’s working with—SN4P, Duckey, Yeb, Arcadia. Coaches whose reputations stretch beyond the Philippines. At the SIBOL media sit-down, they were called “gods,” “powerful,” even likened to the Avengers.
“Nakaka-pressure. Sobra,” Daiki told ALL-STAR.
“Masaya pero pressured din!”
There’s no attempt to downplay it.
“Kasi syempre nandoon yung mga top-tier na coaches! Hindi lang naman sa Pinas yung pagiging top-tier nila. Nakaka-pressure. At the same time, marami din akong matututuhan kung willing din ako maging coach in the future.”
Right now, Daiki exists between two roles.
There is the player who spent months grinding to become visible, who still wants to prove he can do it on stage, not just in scrims, not just in theory.
And then there is the analyst—the one who sees the game clearly, who understands mistakes before they happen, who might, eventually, become something else entirely.
“Parang naguguluhan pa ako.”
He hasn’t decided which one matters more.
So he does both.
For now, that’s enough.
But if there’s anything consistent about Daiki’s story, it’s that he didn’t plan for any of it.
He just kept doing the next thing that made sense, until it led him here.
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