The MPL Philippines Season 7 hasn't started yet but there's a brewing rivalry already between Aura PH and Execration.
Aura's turtle laner Ashley "Killuash" Cruz hit back at former teammate and now-Execration jungler Kiel VJ "Kielvj" Hernandez, who claimed that Aura made a wrong decision in letting him and Renz "Renzio" Cadua go.
Kielvj and Renzio were pillars in the historic back-to-back MPL championships of Sunsparks which later rebranded to Aura.
"Sobrang motivated ko sa kanila at saka gusto kong patunayan kung sinong sinayang niyo (I'm super motivated to face them because I want to prove to them who they had let go)," said Kielvj in the MPL Philippines' Bootcamp Raid episode led by casters Manjean Faldas and Rob Luna.
Execration captain-mage/support Patrick "E2MAX" Caidic even came up with a witty follow-up: "Aura ang naghain, Exe ang kakain (Aura served the meal, Execration will feast)."
In Aura's turn for the Bootcamp Raid segment hosted by Luna and Adrian "Butters" Jison, Killuash did not hold back in his reply to Kielvj.
"Masasabi ko lang dyan, 'di namin sila sinayang kasi meron namang pumalit na dalawang mas matindi (What I can only say is that we didn't waste them because we have two replacements who are better), said the 22-year-old player.
Killuash is referring to ex-Execration side laner Benedict "Bennyqt" Gonzales and former Cignal Ultra hyper-carry Mark "Hadess" Lazaro, who filled the void left by Kielvj and Renzio.
Head coach Michael Angelo "Arcadia" Bocado, the architect of Sunsparks' two straight titles, explained why they picked up Bennyqt and Hadess.
"Actually, nag-uusap kami as a team. Si Benny talaga, nakitaan talaga namin siya ng potential. Feeling ko kasi isa sya sa mga pinaka-underrated na players sa MPL (We're talking as a team. We really saw great potential from Benny. I feel like he's one of the most underrateed players in MPL)," said Arcadia.
"Doon naman sa case ni Hadess, I think kaya lang 'di sya sobrang nag-excel last season, meron pa kasing halong kaba eh. So 'yun ang target namin tanggalin sa kanya (In the case of Hadess, I think the reason why he didn't excel last season is he still has jitters back then. That's our target to remove from him)," he added.
Aura and Execration will face only once in the regular season as the two teams are in different groups.
Aura is in Group A with reigning MPL and M2 world champion Bren Esports, Onic PH, Cignal Ultra and league rookie Work Auster Force.
On the other hand, Execration is in Group B with Season 6 runner-up and M2 playoffs finisher Smart Omega, Blacklist International, Nexplay Esports and qualifier Laus Playbook Esports.