Cover image source: @Mineski.net
SEA favourites TNC Predators and Fnatic both took comfortable wins in their opening games of the double-elimination playoff brackets to put themselves in prime position to qualify for the Chongqing Major. Just like the Kuala Lumpur Major, TNC and Fnatic look like the likely candidates to make it from SEA.
TNC showed BOOM ID what they lacked as they took them down 2-0 in a fairly one-sided series. Just some solid, systematic Dota coming out of TNC was enough to punish the BOOM ID side, who are relatively inexperienced when playing against stronger opposition. In both games, TNC played a semi-snowball sort of draft in both games, using low cooldowns on 4 heroes and allowing one of their cores to farm up and then go for the jugular. Game 1 saw Armel on the Morphling while Gabbi and Kuku created space on the Timbersaw and Puck. In game 2, Gabbi took on the AntiMage while Armel and Kuku ran around on the Kunkka and the Ogre. Both games ended before the 40-minute mark with TNC already sitting at a massive lead before they went for the final push.
Fnatic too faced little difficulty in taking down Mineski, moving onto the winner bracket finals with a clean 2-0. MP’s LD is becoming quite a task for teams to go up against as he showed off in game 1, carrying his team to quite an easy win. Fnatic won both the safe and the off lane and Mineski were playing from behind through the entire game and never really looked capable of challenging as Fnatic walked all over them. In game 2, Mineski denied the LD pick by picking it themselves but JT wasn’t able to have the same sort of impact as MP. Iceicecice meanwhile snowballed on his Timbersaw and created havoc in the teamfights, forcing the single target heavy lineup of Mineski to use their spells on him. By 40 minutes, Fnatic had a massive lead and Mineski crumbled calling gg.
Fnatic and TNC now face each other for a slot at the Major. The loser of that match can still go through if they beat the winner of Mineski and BOOM ID. The rest of the games are currently underway. Stay tuned for all the action …
