{"id":72762,"date":"2026-01-06T11:55:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T03:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=72762"},"modified":"2026-01-06T11:55:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T03:55:36","slug":"kukuys-emerged-victorious-at-predator-league-philippine-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2026\/01\/06\/kukuys-emerged-victorious-at-predator-league-philippine-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"Kukuys emerged victorious at Predator League Philippine Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Predator Gaming brought together top Dota 2 teams to kick off the Predator League Philippine Finals.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This LAN event featured Team Nemesis, Interactive Philippines, Execration, and Kukuys, who earned their spots through qualifying rounds last September. The crowd was packed at the SM North EDSA Annex as fans watched the remaining teams compete for three exclusive spots at the APAC Finals in India early next year, along with a share of the PhP 500,000 prize pool.\u00a0After a tough Grand Final between Kukuys and defending champions Execration that went into the night, Kukuys emerged victorious with a 3-2 score.<\/p>\n

A Duel Between Titans<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Grand Finals for Dota 2 pitted the long-standing squad Execration against the new team\u00a0Kukuys, who are brimming with talent. Execration brought back players like Justine \u2018Tino\u2019\u00a0Grimaldo and Bryle \u2018cml\u2019 Alvizo, who helped them win the Philippine Finals last year. However, winning again was going to be a tall order against the star power of captain Carlo \u2018Kuku\u2019 Palad, Armel Tabios, and Djardel \u2018DJ\u2019 Mampusti. An impressive 12-0-16 performance by Mark \u2018Bob\u2019 Urbina\u2019s Slardar opened the floodgates for Execration in Game 1. A strong draft and laning stage helped Execration in Game 2. Despite the questionable fountain dive by Jinn \u2018Palos\u2019 Lamatao, Execration still easily secured the win by pure economic advantage.<\/p>\n

With Kukuys looking to prevent a sweep, substitute player Charles \u2018lewis\u2019 Santos and his Ursa\u00a0kept his team\u2019s hopes alive alongside DJ\u2019s MVP performance on his Hoodwink during the 45-minute slugfest. Kuku has always been a fan of unorthodox drafts, and he proved his mettle with\u00a0two unusual carry picks to finish the series. Execration was blindsided by the Batrider and\u00a0Bristleback from lewis and Kukuys executed the reverse sweep. Kukuys denied Execration the\u00a0back-to-back Philippine Championship, thanks to the drafting and leadership of Kuku as they\u00a0lifted the Predator Shield in front of an ecstatic crowd.<\/p>\n

Battle for Third<\/strong><\/p>\n

Team Nemesis faced Interactive Philippines for the final spot in India at the Battle for Third\u00a0Place. Team Nemesis showcased star player Marc Polo \u2018Raven\u2019 Fausto, who brings years of\u00a0international Dota 2 experience. Interactive Philippines was clearly the underdog in their\u00a0matchup but is not without a fight. Hard support player James \u2018Erice\u2019 Guerra leads a young\u00a0team with something to prove. However, the young squad was overwhelmed by the experience\u00a0and star power of Team Nemesis. Raven was in top form, averaging 10 kills and 12 assists in the\u00a0series.<\/p>\n

Repping the Philippines in India<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kukuys, Execration, and Team Nemesis booked their ticket to the Asia Pacific Predator League\u00a02026 Grand Finals in India to duke it out against the region\u2019s best, along with the winners of the VALORANT Philippine Finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a tough Grand Final between Kukuys and defending champions Execration that went into the night, Kukuys emerged victorious with a 3-2 score.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":72763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[5604,7924,34,7923,7925,6072,7922],"class_list":["post-72762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming","tag-dota","tag-execration","tag-gaming-2","tag-interactive-philippines","tag-kukuys","tag-predator-gaming","tag-team-nemesis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72764,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72762\/revisions\/72764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}