Dota 2: TNC Predator wins WESG SEA

TNC Predator fought through 496 Gaming to claim victory at the WESG 2019 SEA tournament.

The World Electronic Sports Games 2019 Southeast Asia Finals was a tournament where some of the best teams from the region had to go face to face in order to determine which one is worth winning the trophy. There were many notable names here, but one of them clearly stood out – TNC Predator. As expected, the SEA powerhouse ripped through the competition like a knife through butter. In fact, reached the Grand Final without losing a single game in any series.

The Grand Final

Everyone who watched the tournament expected that TNC will crush their enemies 496 Gaming. However, the reality was very different. Despite the win, Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte and his team-mates barely won after 496’s incredible performance.

Game One

It seems like TNC kind of underestimated their enemies in the first game of the series. On the other hand, 496 looked very motivated as they banned TNC’s strongest heroes during the draft.

Despite that, the ESL One Hamburg champions were able to get a very solid start of the game. The won the laning stage which gave them a good advantage later on. However, after a series of mistakes, 496 was able to bounce back and the balance of power quickly shifted in their favor.

In the end, after a very messy team fight, TNC was out of buybacks and called GG.

Game Two

.@MarchDota tanks another post game 🎤 interview! #WESG2019#SummonYourStrength pic.twitter.com/wQaNVVhu8y

— TNC Predator 🇵🇭 (@TNCPredator) November 3, 2019

Game of the series proved that TNC can actually bleed. As you can imagine, 496 Gaming was extremely motivated and came into the second game with a clear intention of winning. Sadly, TNC had other plans.

This time, the sea powerhouse picked some of their best heroes, which resulted in a 23 min massacre where they completely outplayed their enemies. Armel Paul “Armel” Tabios’s Templar Assassin snowballed out of control and pushed the series into a game three.

Game Three

As expected, both teams picked their most comfortable heroes for the final game of this tournament. Similar to game one, both of them had heroes with a lot of AoE spells, which means that every single team fight could potentially swing in a different direction.

Despite being completely run down in game two, 496 played out of their minds, especially early on. Their constant aggression caught TNC off-guard and they suffered 20 deaths just 15 minutes into the game.

Even though TNC had some signs of recovery, they lost two very important team fights. Suddenly, the game felt as if it was over because 496 had a huge advantage. That said, TNC proved why a team should never give up in a Dota 2 game.

In a failed attempt to prevent TNC from killing Roshan, 496 suffered a lot of casualties. This resulted in a fast push where they had to waste buybacks in order to defend their base. Unfortunately, this was not enough as the ESL One Champs looked too strong to be stopped at this point.

Conclusion

Despite losing the big final, 496 Gaming delivered a clear message that they should not be taken lightly. Who knows, we might end up seeing them on the big stage very soon.

In terms of TNC, this is their second tournament win in a row. The next challenge ahead of them is the upcoming MDL Chengdu Major that starts in a few weeks. It will be very interesting to see whether they can hold their ground against some of the best teams in the world.