Execration.

When people talk of Execration, they think about Abed “Abed” Yusop’s Meepo of Dota 2 fame or the Filipino team that has beaten numerous international opponents at various levels of Dota 2 competition. Little do people know nowadays that they used to have a CrossFire team a year ago.

They qualified for the National Finals by winning one of the qualifiers for the Greater Manila region, while at the same time showing some good runs against arguably better teams such as Pacific.Macta and Pacific.Wara, among others.



In the meantime, Strategic AC Gaming, used to be known as “Anonas Gaming” after one of the districts in Quezon City (which is the largest city here in Metro Manila), is just gaining momentum after having to find their respective tunes both in and out of the game.

It has finally came down to the loser bracket match on Black Widow, with the winner going to the Loser Bracket semifinals, while the loser goes home with joint 5th/6th place.

Styles

With both teams having a mix of experienced aimers and rookie talents, both teams rely on having good aim and the better entries, regardless of the side they are in. This means that there are lesser executes than usual on the team that holds the Black List side and that it is only a matter of using the right utilities for the Global Risk side in order to gain time.

As seen in this picture below, it becomes a chaotic rumble once the smokes and flashes are gone, with the team having the better spray control, basic mechanics and stronger positioning gaining the critical rounds - and thus, the game.



However, what Strategic AC Gaming had on that very day were two things that allowed them to get out of what otherwise was considered a close match: Discipline and pick-off timings.

By mere virtue of having a strong captain in the form of Francis “TANKZ” Catangay, AC Gaming were able to take two rounds in the middle of the game that they were not supposed to have. In addition, the very fact that their pickoffs worked out well especially when they transferred to the offensive side during the second half of the map ensured that they win the match 10-6.

For the Execration side, they fragged well, they traded well and they brought down AC Gaming very quickly in the rounds that they won. However, that was not enough to beat AC Gaming’s relatively methodical play, thus ending their journey at the CFS 2015 Philippine National Finals.

The above match is a very good example of how small adjustments can make a team get what otherwise would have been a clincher map in a relatively comfortable manner.

Images taken from the GameClub official YouTube page. All rights belong to their respective owners.