Who Is Savero? MLBB Player Profile & MPL PH S17

#The Short Answer

Clayton "Savero" Kuswanto. Indonesian. Gold laner. Two-time MPL Indonesia champion. And as of February 24, 2026, the first import in the sixteen-season history of MPL Philippines.

He now wears the ONIC PH jersey. He sits in the seat Kelra built.

#Who Is Savero?

Savero's full name is Clayton Adrielo Kuswanto. He started his competitive career in MDL Indonesia, the developmental league under ONIC Esports, before earning a promotion to the main MPL squad.

That promotion paid off immediately. ONIC Indonesia won back-to-back MPL ID championships in Seasons 15 and 16, with Savero anchoring the gold lane both times. He also represented the organization at the M7 World Championship, though ONIC ID bowed out early in the lower bracket in Jakarta.

His alternate IDs are Zionzy and Vero. He plays gold lane almost exclusively at the competitive level.

#The Hero Pool

Savero's signature in MPL ID was his versatility across the gold lane roster. His known picks include Beatrix, Harith, and Claude as his primary carry options. The combination of late-game insurance picks with mechanical consistency is what made him ONIC ID's first choice over multiple seasons.

In his own words, the biggest adjustment coming to MPL PH is not mechanical. It's the meta.

"I think the meta because in this meta, there are so many factors to consider in the gold lane and I have to adjust to that," Savero told ALL-STAR Magazine in his first Philippine media appearance.

The Philippine gold lane has historically demanded more than raw farming. It demands map-reading, draft flexibility, and the ability to perform under a fanbase that has watched that lane define championships for years.

#Why ONIC PH? Why Now?

The story starts with Kelra.

Duane "Kelra" Pillas, arguably the defining gold laner of MPL PH's modern era, departed ONIC Philippines and moved to ONIC Indonesia ahead of Season 17. In Jakarta, he rejoins Kairi, completing a Filipino import duo in MPL ID.

ONIC PH needed to fill that gap. They went directly to the source.

What happened next is the kind of transfer that only works between sister organizations. Savero moves to Manila. Kelra moves to Jakarta. A direct exchange between two teams under the same brand, across two of the biggest MLBB leagues in the world.

"I got surprised because I have to replace Kelra, and I never expected Kelra to move to ONIC ID," Savero said in a candid admission after the announcement. But he didn't treat it as a burden. "I got excited. I will play against so many strong teams in the Philippines."

His preparation wasn't starting from zero. Savero and Kelra had scrimmaged repeatedly during the MPL ID cycle. He had already been studying the blueprint.

"I always scrim with Kelra and I learned so many things from him. I review our scrim and I learned a lot from his playstyle," he said.

#Why MPL PH Hasn't Had Imports Before

For sixteen seasons, every player on every MPL PH roster was Filipino. That wasn't an accident.

The Philippines exports talent. Kairi went to ONIC ID. KarlTzy played for NXP Solid and later represented PH internationally. The traffic has always flowed outward, not inward. The country's MLBB ecosystem is deep enough that teams never needed to look outside.

Savero's arrival flips that dynamic for the first time.

ONIC PH's reasoning is straightforward. They finished fourth in Season 16, a shock lower bracket semifinal exit for a team that won the M6 World Championship. They needed someone who could step in immediately and perform at the highest level. Finding that in Indonesia, through a familiar organizational pipeline, was the cleaner move than gambling on an unproven local talent in a position this critical.

#The ONIC PH S17 Roster

Here is the full lineup that takes the field on March 20:

YellyHaze takes the head coaching role after Ynot's departure. The core of K1NGKONG, Kirk, Super Frince, and Brusko remains intact. Savero is the one moving part in an otherwise experienced roster.

#The Pressure Is Real

ONIC PH is the M6 World Championship team. Their lowest acceptable result in any regular season is a playoff berth. Savero steps into that expectation as the first import the country has ever seen at this level.

He's aware of the weight.

"I don't feel any pressure. I just focus to improve and bond with the team," he said. But then, almost immediately: "I want to beat everyone."

That's the sentence that matters. Not the calm part. The second part.

For the broader context on what the MPL PH Season 17 field looks like and who ONIC PH is competing against, the MPL Season 17 post-M7 preview breaks down the full competitive picture.

Nearly three weeks into his stay in Manila by the time of his media rounds, Savero was already eating sisig, listening to "Kanibalismo" by fiiterkarma, and picking up Filipino words. The cultural adjustment, by his account, was moving faster than expected.

The meta adjustment is still ahead of him.

#What to Watch When Season 17 Starts

Three questions define Savero's MPL PH debut:

Draft adaptability. Indonesian gold lane metas and Philippine gold lane metas are not the same. Can Savero execute the same versatility he showed in Seasons 15 and 16 of MPL ID, or does the meta shift limit his hero pool?

Lane pressure. Kelra's defining trait was his ability to dictate the pace of a game from the gold lane without overextending. Savero's style trends more aggressive. Whether that aggression fits ONIC PH's disciplined structure, or whether YellyHaze builds around it, is the real question.

Weight of the crowd. MPL PH audiences are loud, informed, and unforgiving. The first time Savero gets caught out in a high-stakes match, that crowd will let him know. How he responds to that moment will define whether he earns his place here or just fills a spot.

Season 17 kicks off March 20. Savero plays his first professional game on Philippine soil against teams that have been waiting sixteen seasons for this exact scenario: a foreign player walking into their house.

The Philippine gold lane has never had an import. Now it does.