Captain-support Patrick "E2MAX" Caidic on Selena proved to be a deadshot as Execration pulled the rug from under Aura PH, 2-1, to stay in the Playoffs upper bracket race in the MPL Philippines on Sunday night, May 16.
E2MAX's Selena was on-target with Abyssal Arrows to set up the tempo for Execration's ruthless aggression en route to a 23-6 rout in just 14 minutes in the deciding Game 3.
The MPL veteran hit eight kills to go with seven assists for a 65 percent kill participation against only two deaths.
Joshua "Ch4knu" Mangilog sustained his stellar play with Grock in the decider as he teamed up with E2MAX to disrupt Aura's rotation and deplete the resources for Mark "LORD HADESS" Lazaro's Ling.
Ch4knu, whose tank Chou fueled Exe's crucial victory in Game 2, came through with a perfect record of 12 assists and two kills as well as multiple hero knock-ups via the Wild Charge ultimate.
With the win, coach Jomie "Pakba1ts" Abalos and Billy "Z4pnu" Alfonso's crew tied Smart Omega at No. 2 in Group B at the moment with 20 points on a 6-7 series record.
Execration needs its "bestfriend" Bren Esports to sweep Omega in the last season's finals rematch at posting time to forge a one-game tiebreaker for the last upper bracket seat in Group B.
Coach Michael Angelo "Arcadia" Bocado's Aura suffered its second straight setback although it would head into the Playoffs as Group A's top seed with 26 markers on a 9-4 slate.
The nail-biting series saw Kiel VJ "Kielvj" Hernandez and Renz "Renzio" Cadua getting a win against their former team Aura while ex-Execration star Benedict "Bennyqt" Gonzales suffered a loss in their first MPL faceoff.