#ExeShot caps Cinderella run to capture Southeast Asia title
The finals of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup 2021 saw an all-Filipino showdown between Execration and Blacklist International last June 13 with Execration winning, 4-1. Climbing straight from the lower bracket, Execration capped off a phenomenal run by beating teams from Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia before exacting sweet revenge against Blacklist who beat them in MPL Philippines S7 championship last May.
Renz Errol Cadua “Renzio” (EXP Lane), Patrick James Caidic “E2MAX” (Support), Kiel VJ Hernandez “Kielvj” (MID Lane), Joshua Mangilog “Ch4knu” (Tank), Grant Duane Pillas “Kelra” (Gold Lane), and Billy Jazha Alfonso ”Z4pnu” (6th Man) finally captured the regional supremacy along with the $70,000 top prize. Execration became the second Filipino team to win the prestigious title after Aether Main did it in 2018.
Comeback is real
The road to the finals was not all easy for Execration as they were relegated to the lower bracket after their Day 1 defeat from EVOS Legends ID. From there, they started their Day 2 campaign with a 2-1 victory against Cambodia’s Impunity KH.
Execration’s deep playoff run continued on Day 2 as they battled RSG MY from Malaysia and cruised to a 2-0 sweep. The victory pushed Execration to the pivotal lower bracket finals where they went up against their first-day tormentor, EVOS Legends Indonesia. But this time, the results were different as the boys from the Philippines exacted a 3-1 win to punch the last ticket to the MSC finals.
#Exeshot in the finals
Waiting in the wings is Blacklist International who breezed through to the finals with their straight set wins in the upper bracket against RSG Malaysia and EVOS Legends Indonesia. The rematch against Execration is a repeat finals showdown as the two teams squared off in the recent MPL Philippines Season 7 championship held last May. Blacklist won the intense seven-game series, 4-3.
This time though was a different story. Blacklist International took first blood to win Game 1. Execration bounced back in Game 2 to hand Blacklist their first loss of the entire series. In Game 3, Execration capitalized on the battle for the Lord to take out Blacklist’s squishy heroes together with Edward’s tanky Barats. Up 2-1, Execration continued their title push in Game 4, pulling off a wipe-out during the late game to reach match point. Up 3-1, Execration put the finishing touches with Kelra’s Chang’e pouring its Meteor Shower might to lead his team to victory. Kelra’s scathing performance also won him the MVP honors for MSC 2021.
