Following his great performance with Fnatic at TI6, where they finished in 4th place, the Philippine player DJ felt the time had come to return to his homeland after spending a year on Fnatic’s roster. As part of the Fnatic squad, Djardel Jicko B. “DJ” Mampusti made a significant contribution to the most successful period in the team’s history and will be a significant loss for them.
It was precisely the Philippines scene that delivered one of the biggest surprises of TI6 as TNC Gaming reached 7-8th spot, eliminating the huge favourites OG in convincing fashion with a 2-0 scoreline on the way. Philippines Dota 2 is clearly undergoing something of a revival and DJ’s presence will aid this.
DJ’s new team, Execration, were created in 2014 and have mainly played on the domestic and SEA regional scenes. Their greatest achievement on the international stage was when they battled their way to the TI6 Wildcard phase, where they were eventually eliminated.
With DJ in their ranks, Execration opened the new season with an impressive victory by winning the latest edition of the MPGL Southeast Asian Championship. In a tournament following major roster changes for the powerhouses Fnatic, MVP and Mineski, Execration defeated each one of them and grabbed the gold in the first notable SEA tournament of the new Dota 2 season.
So far, DJ has been playing the same role he played for Fnatic – position 4 Support. At his former team, he used to have some freedom to farm but Execration prefer to hand him laning and ganking supports, with Shadow Demon and Oracle being the two heroes most drafted for him during MPGL. He did not play any farming supports at the tournament.
Along with DJ, Execration have experimented with several rosters over the last few weeks including with players who participated in the TI6 Wildcard stage such as Nando, Abed, Kim0 and Gabbi. They announced their final line-up last Wednesday, which reads:
| Khim “Gabbi” Villafuerte | position 1/2 (Carry/Mid) |
| Abed “Abed” Yusop | position 1/2 (Carry/Mid) |
| Rafael Sicat “Rapy” Palo | position 3 (Offlane) |
| Djardel Jicko B. “DJ” Mampusti | position 4 (Support) |
| Kimuel “Kim0” Rodis (captain) | position 5 (Support) |
| Coaches | BYB & BG01 |
Let’s take a look at DJ’s new teammates a little more closely:
Gabbi is a relatively new player and made himself noticed during MPGL when playing as a Carry/Midlaner. He joined Execration unofficially on 22nd August. He is really strong on Juggernaut and Sven in the hard Carry role, but won the fans over with his miraculous Puck skills against MVP during MPGL, which will easily be remembered as one of the best Puck plays in the history of Dota.
Abed – a prodigy of 16, Abed is one of the rising stars of the Philippines Dota scene. Preferring a Mid role, he can also play as a hard Carry. He is one of the few professional players who can play Meepo at a competitive level. He was part of Execration’s TI6 Wildcard team and was particularly impressive with Meepo against compLexity Gaming. Execration are his first team after he joined their ranks in February at the age of 15. He appears to be treading a similar path to that of another player who has since become one of the best in the world – EG’s SumaiL.
Rapy was not part of the roster for MPGL but is a player who has been part of many Philippine teams over the years, including Mineski in 2014. He is known as a really good Sand King player and the team tend to use his ability to play this hero. He is a more team fight orientated Offlaner than a farming one.
Kim0 – a veteran on the Execration roster having been part of the team since mid-2014, Kim0 is the one who makes the game calls as the captain of the team. In this patch he is playing setup/initiating supports such as Ogre and Kunkka. Part of the roster for the TI6 Wildcard phase, Kim0 and his teammates fell just short of surprising everyone after narrowly failing to become the second Philippine team to qualify for the main event after losing to Escape Gaming in the Lower Bracket Finals.
Execration are one of the fastest growing teams in the currently reviving Philippines scene. They almost secured a breakthrough in the last International, but with the new faces on the team, they are already starting to show their potential and beginning to make a case for greater international recognition.
