MANILA, Philippines -- For the third time ever, it will be an All-Filipino Dota 2 grand finals of the Asia Pacific Predator League.
Execration and Blacklist Rivalry will be battling it out in the finals of the esports tournament after completely obliterating their respective opponents at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Saturday.
Execration decimated Team Aster, 31-9, to grab the first finals seat for Dota 2.
Execration led 26-9 with about 23 minutes of play.
With the Filipino team pushing strongly on top, the Chinese squad initiated a clash.
However, Execration, led by Bob’s Ember Spirit, was able to weather the surprise attack and kill all five Team Aster players.
Just before the 24-minute mark, Aster called for GG, sealing the victory for the Filipino squad.
Bob was named as the match’s MVP with a 12/3/15 kill-death-assist ratio.
At the nightcap, Blacklist Rivalry needed just 29 minutes to dismantle Mongolia’s IHC E-Sports, 41-8.
Twenty-three seconds before the game officially started, IHC Eleven’s Dark Seer was killed.
This set the tone for the rest of the game, as Blacklist just annihilated the competition.
In just 12 minutes, Blacklist Rivalry Raven, who was using Lone Druid, was able to secure the Beyond Godlike as he built a Diffusal Blade with just eight minutes of play.
Abed’s Ember Spirit, who was playing in the midlane, was able to farm and help out in other lanes as IHC was just outpowered.
After a crucial clash, IHC called for the GG.
Abed was named MVP of the match with a 12/1/9 kill-death-assist ratio.
The finals of the Dota 2 competition will be on Sunday, January 14, at the same venue.
They will be battling for the $65,000, or about P3.6 million, prize.
It is the third time that the tournament will have an All-Filipino grand finals, after TNC and Neon battled it out in 2021, and Polaris Esports faced Execration in 2022.