'Inexperienced' Execration crashes out, settles for P6M prize at DOTA tiff

MANILA Philippines – Philippine-based professional esports team Execration made an early exit at the seventh edition of DOTA 2 “The International” after a dismal performance against veteran Team Secret at Key Arena in Seattle, USA on Tuesday morning (Manila time).

Execration’s lack of experience was evident in the team’s first appearance on the big stage, failing to peak off and farm their much-needed items which left them at 12th to 16th place of the annual event presented by Valve.

Execration was destroyed by Team Secret in 34 minutes with a kill score of 8-31 in the lower bracket of the tournament. The European team will advance to the next round and will face top-seeded Liquid, which fell from the upper bracket after getting upset by Chinese team Invictus Gaming in their best-of-three outing (1-2).

READ: DOTA 2 event breaks own record with P1B pot

Execration’s latest showing somehow improved compared to last year where they were easily eliminated in the group stage, settling at 17th to 18th place.

Despite being knocked out, the team composed of Fernando "Nando" Mendoza, James "CartMaN" Palatolon, Ryan Jay "Raging Potato" Qui, Ralph Richard "RR" Peñano and Kimuel Borromeo "LeumiK" Rodis will bring home an estimated prize of P6 million, a small part of the current prize pool of $24,000,000 – the largest in esports history. 

With their elimination, the pressure is now on another Philippine-based squad, TNC Pro Team, which is scheduled to play in a best-of-three series Wednesday against another Chinese squad and top-seeded LGD Forever Young.

TNC Pro Team will shoot for an upset to grab a chance to enter Top 6 of the tournament and closer to the estimated P500 million grand prize. A loss, however, will bring them to a stacked lower bracket where league favorites also dropped.