MANILA—Bren Esports are ending their Mobile Legends: Bang Bang campaign early, as Execration rallied from two sets down to beat the defending local and world champs in Round 3 of the lower bracket playoffs Saturday night.

Bren squandered a chance to secure a sweep, with Execration putting up a long fight to swing the momentum in their favor and eventually dethrone the champions.

Allan “Lusty” Castromayor’s plays set the tempo for Bren in Game 1, as his Khufra gave his squad good opportunities in team fights to draw first blood.

Good defensive plays care of Joshua “Ch4knu” Mangilog and Patrick “E2MAX” James Caidic prolonged the lifeline of Execration in Game 2 but it took a lord clash to further sway the momentum toward Bren.

Bren gained a good lead in Game 3 and were poised to secure the series thanks to Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno's Granger, who had a monstrous damage output in the early game. They had also obliterated all of Execration’s turrets.

But good defensive plays by Execration further prolonged the series and gave the squad room to destroy Bren’s turrets to even the match and eventually overtake the champions in terms gold lead.

Ultimately, it was Ch4knu’s hufra that made the difference, as his Tyrant’s revenge slowed down three Bren players by their base at the 50th minute, giving Execration enough opening to kill four of the defending champs’ players.

CJ “Ribo” Ribo’s Lunox survived the onslaught momentarily, eking out a triple kill by the base but a feathered airstrike courtesy of E2MAX’s Pharsa shut him down.

But even as Bren put out their comfort picks in Grame 5 and even with KarlTzy putting out his world title-winning Lancelot, Execration stopped him in his tracks behind Renz “Renzio” Errol Cadua's Gloo, who won MVP for the rubber match.

With their world championship lineup intact, Bren had weathered through a slow start to the season, losing three straight matches before picking up the pace and winning 8 of their next 10 games.

Bren ended up second in Group A, heralded as the "Group of Death" with 23 points.

Prior to the season, Bren Esports won the M2 world championship, winning against Burmese Ghouls. They were also crowned Season 6 champions in 2020 after defeating Smart Omega in the grand finals.

More details to follow

ROSTER:

BREN ESPORTS

• CJ “Ribo” Ribo
• Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno
• David “FlapTzy” Canon
• EJ “Ejhay” Sambrano
• Angelo “Pheww” Arcangel
• Allan “Lusty” Castromayor

EXECRATION

• Renz “Renzio” Errol Cadua
• Patrick “E2MAX” James Caidic
• Kiel “Kielvj” VJ Hernandez
• Joshua “Ch4knu” Mangilog
• Grant “Kelra" Duane Pillas
• Billy ”Z4pnu" Jazha Alfonso