Cover-Credits:
On 27th January, the all-Filipino team Blacklist International (also known as Blacklist Rivalry) was eliminated from the ESL One Birmingham 2024 SEA closed qualifier by Execration. This is the third tournament Blacklist has failed to qualify for in 2024. With this, Execration has seemingly taken its revenge for the loss at the Asia Pacific Predator League 2024 that was handed by Blacklist International. Another interesting fact is that Blacklist International currently lacks a carry and it was playing with Execration’s carry Jinn Marrey "Palos" Lamatao as its stand-in.
Execration Exacts Revenge on Blacklist International
At the ESL One Birmingham 2024 SEA (South East Asia) closed qualifier, a tale of revenge brewed as Execration knocked out Blacklist International, the team it lost to in the grand finals of Asia Pacific Predator League 2024 not too long ago.
Blacklist started its run from the upper bracket quarterfinals and beat MAG.Indonesia advanced towards the upper bracket semifinals where it faced Geek Fam. Geek Fam emerged as the stronger team as it clean-swept Blacklist International in a best-of-three series and relegated Blacklist to the lower bracket. In the lower bracket, Blacklist went against Execration.
It should be noted that execration just underwent a major change in its roster, bringing in India’s Krish "Krish" Gupta as the new carry for the team. With this change, Execration initially lost against Bleed Esports and then played against Aurora.
During the lower bracket round 2, Execration went against Blacklist International, one of the favored teams to qualify for the main tournament. Execration brought its A-game to the table as it managed to clean-sweep Blacklist and knock it out of the tournament completely.
Blacklist International notably features some of the most well-known Dota 2 players from the SEA region including Abed "Abed" Yusop and Kim "Gabbi" Santos.
Recap of the Series
Game 1 seemed to be in favor of Blacklist as it dominated the early phases of the match but Execration’s patience paid off as it slowly began to make a comeback. This started when it managed to catch Gabbi’s Mars at the 18th-minute mark, ending his mega-kill streak which gave Execration the much needed XP and gold boost. Following this, Execration played strategically with Mark Anthony "Bob" Urbina on Magnus and Bryle "cml" Alvizo on Techies excelling in teamfights. The game ended when Mark Jubert "Shanks" Redira on Earthshaker initiated a high-ground siege attempt with a beautiful echo slam that caught Gabbi’s Mars and Palos on Meepo.
Game 2 gave the fans an enthralling show of action and skirmishes as both the teams went head to head and traded blows for most of the game. But as the game progressed into the late game, Blacklist had no answer for Krish’s Spectre which had scaled into a tanky front liner.
Execration utilized this to its advantage and while Krish went to the high ground to secure barracks, the team stayed guard behind Krish. For Blacklistm eventually after a failed defense, it called GG at the 37th minute.
