Super rookie Duane "Kelra" Pillas came alive when it mattered most, lifting Execration to a thrilling 3-2 victory over Smart Omega in the playoffs lower bracket of the MPL Philippines Season 7 late Friday night, May 28.
With Execration's tournament life on the line, gold laner Kelra on Alice emerged as his team's offensive machine by scattering over 110K damage in team fights to power the nerve-racking 26-minute win in Game 5.
Kelra fully utilized the early game advantage handed out by veterans Joshua "Ch4knu" Mangilog on Jawhead and Patrick "E2MAX" Caidic on Eudora who repeatedly set up ganks to shut down Adrian "Toshi" Bacallo's Harith on the gold lane.
Omega almost turned the tides to its favor in the 18th minute when Toshi and company took down four Execration heroes but were not able to destroy even a single tower as Kiel VJ "Kielvj" Hernandez's Benedetta earlier secured the Lord kill.
Another clash at the pit saw Omega snatch the Luminous Lord but Execration slayed three enemies in the midst of the Cult Altar ultimate of Renz "Renzio" Cadua's Faramis before the boys in blue marched straight for a Base lock.
Player-turned-coach Jomie "Pakba1ts" Abalos and Billy "Z4pnu" Alfonso's squad arranged an elimination match against their best friend Bren Esports in the lower bracket third round on Saturday. "Labanan ng puso 'to," Z4pnu said in the post-match interview.
Coach Tony "Ynot" Senedrin's Omega, which nabbed the runner-up spot last season and a playoff finish in the M2 World Championship, settled for 5th-6th place this time. Execration shocked Omega in Game 1 with its cheese Bane-Faramis strategy on top of arrival plays through Selena's Abyssal Trap usually seen on social media platform TikTok.
Omega immediately bounced back with a dominant win in Game 2 behind Salic "Hadjizy" Imam's Hayabusa and Kenneth Jiane "Kenji" Villa's signature Gloo.
Kelra's Esmeralda gave Execration the match point by spearheading the Game 3 victory but Omega did not want to go down without a fight, forcing a winner-take-all with a Game 4 triumph led by Jankurt "KurtTzy" Matira's Selena.
It all went down the drain for Omega's side as Kelra once again stepped up the plate and keep Execration's "give Billy the trophy" battle cry going in the MPL Season 7.