Southeast Asian team TNC Predator is the champion of the Dota 2 WESG 2018. The team won the tournament after beating Keen Gaming 2-0 to take home the $500,000 prize.
Organized by AliSports, the World Electronic Sports Games is the only Olympic-style esports competition. Unlike other esports competition, WESG requires that teams must have all players coming from the same nationality.
TNC’s victory is considered bittersweet, as Michael “ninjaboogie” Ross Jr. left the team in early February and team captain Carlo “Kuku” Palad was unable to play. He remains banned in Chongqing, the site of this year’s WESG tournaments. Completing TNC’s roster was Nico “eyyou” Barcelon and Marc Polo Luis “Raven” Fausto, on loan from Lotac. Both eyyou and Raven both have ties to TNC. The rest of the team was composed of Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte, Armel Paul “Armel” Tabios, and Timothy John “Tims” Randrup.
They have done it! @TNCPredator have defeated @Keen_GamingCN in the final match of WESG 2018-2019 Dota 2 Grand Finals, confidently winning the series 2-0. Congratulations to the Philippine team!#WESG #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/HY4JGzFvsR
— WESG (@WESGcom) March 10, 2019
TNC’s championship run in the WESG 2018 started in the Southeast Asia Qualifiers where the team placed second to WarriorsGaming.Unity after the Group Stage. In the semifinals, TNC would play against BOOM ID and beat the Indonesian team 2-0. The Finals saw TNC face off against WG.Unity again, a team that had beaten TNC during the Group Stage. TNC dominated the match this time, taking the top spot 2-0.
During the Group Stage of the WESG 2018, TNC led its group, dropping only 1 game each to The Final Tribe of Northern Europe and White-Off of Russia.
TNC showed its dominance during the Playoffs beginning with Team Canarinho. The first game had Gabbi’s Phantom Assassin getting 11 kills. In the second game, Armel racked up 11 kills and zero deaths on his Morphling. In the semifinals match, TNC again drew on Armel’s Morphling, finishing the game in around 25 minutes. In the second game, TNC had the lead in number of kills, but the majority of the time featured the Russian team taking control. A disastrous team fight against White-Off had TNC going for the GG push and win.
In the championship match, TNC easily won the first game, banking on Armel’s puck. In the second game, TNC showed that it would not be denied the win as the team won in under 30 minutes.
Keen Gaming takes home $200,000 with its loss to TNC. In third place is Russian team White-Off with $100,000.
