Cover-Credits:
With its position on the points table of DreamLeague Season 19's group stage 1 at stake, Expecration failed to impress against Shopify Rebellion, one of the strongest teams in Group A thus far. Execration’s carry player Jinn "Palos" Lamatao, continuing his recent trend of choosing unorthodox carry heroes, picked Pudge and Night Stalker, neither of which performed as aggressively as he would have hoped. Instead, Shopify was the aggressor in both games, choosing stable drafts and executing them flawlessly. While Execration now faces a difficult road to qualifying, Shopify has steadily moved up the points table and secured a group stage 2 slot.
Shopify Rebellion vs Execration: Match recap and highlights
Recap
In game 1, both sides went for safe bets, with SabeRLighT- opting for Lycan, Mikey going with Batrider, and Palos going with Pudge. The midlane was heavily favored by Shopify, as Bob was slain three times in the first eight minutes. Execration's other cores suffered as well, with them accounting for all of Shopify's first 11 kills. As Shopify was only bleeding some support kills, it was only a matter of time before the team was able to build up a significant advantage and win the game in 31 minutes.
Game 2 was similar to the previous one in that Execration's cores remained a special focus of Shopify. Palos had a difficult game on a first pick Night Stalker and received his first significant item, Radiance, at 18 minutes. Execration suffered a huge damage issue and was unable to take down Shopify's heroes throughout the stun durations due to a Tidehunter offlane and a mid Puck not having the greatest games. While Shopify had a few overextensions, it was in complete control and triumphed in 36 minutes.
Highlights
Here are some highlights of the series.
In spite of losing its star midlaner Abed "Abed" Yusop, Shopify has delivered such impressive performances. The stand-in midlaner for Shopify, Kasra "Mikey" Mesbah, has played in a very similar way to Abed.
In the two games against Execration, he played Batrider and Invoker, both of which have been some of his most famous heroes in pubs, and he was nothing short of a menace. His KDA in the first game was 12-3-15; in the second, it was 18-1-9.
For Execration, one series remains in group stage 1 of the DreamLeague S19 which will come against Evil Geniuses, another team that has already secured a slot in group stage 2. Currently, three of the four spots are booked, leaving only one spot open between Execration, TSM, Execration, and ex-HellRaisers.
