TNC.Predator off to an unbeaten start on Day 1 of the MDL: Chengdu Major SEA Qualifiers

Image Courtesy: TNC Predator

The SEA Qualifiers for the first major of the season, the MDL: Chengdu Major kicked off earlier today. The strongest SEA teams on paper, have duly delivered, with some dominant performances boosting them up to the top of the tables.

Here’s a brief look at how Fnatic and TNC Predator performed on Day 1.

TNC Predator

TNC Predator kicked off the day with a relatively quick 2-0 victory over Reality Rift. The series ended in just over an hour with TNC ending up dominating both games. Armel and Tims, in particular, played exceptionally well in this series, carrying their team to victory in both games.

TNC’s win over Alpha x Hashtag was even more one-sided. Game 1 was a 20-minute stomp after Gabbi became an unkillable raid boss who just mowed down buildings with ease. Game 2 was much closer, but Gabbi once again pulled his weight with a spectacular Nightstalker performance carrying his team to victory.

Fnatic

Fnatic vs Team Jinesbrus:

Fnatic kicked off their Day with an impressive 2-0 victory over Team Jinesbrus. Game 1 was a relatively one-sided victory despite what the scoreline would suggest. Fnatic basically 4v5d Team Jinesbrus for the first 25 minutes of the game, leaving 23savage to amass immense amounts of farm on his Phantom Lancer. After he managed to farm himself a Diffusal, Manta Style, Heart in just 25 minutes, he began joining Teamfights and slaughtered his opponents to secure the victory. 

Game 2 had a relatively different trajectory. Fnatic lost the early game but managed to pull it back to even after a series of great skirmishes, and then took control of the game. 23savage once again became too hard to deal with, after the 25-minute mark on his Faceless Void eventually carrying his team to another victory.

Fnatic vs BOOM Esports:

Fnatic’s playstyle didn’t change against BOOM Esports as well. Once again, they picked up a Phantom Lancer for 23savage, and once again made space for him to farm up and carry them to victory. To their credit, it succeeded in Game 1.

However, when Fnatic picked up a Naga Siren for 23savage to attempt the same in Game 2, BOOM Esports struck back. They used Fnatic’s own 4-protect-1 strategy against them with Dreamocel on the Phantom Lancer and managed to tie up the series 1-1.

The other big SEA team competing in this qualifier, Geek Fam started off well with a 2-0 victory over Alpha x Hashtag, however, they didn’t get off to a good start in their final series of the day against Cignal Ultra, dropping the first game.

The second game between these two teams is currently ongoing at the time of writing.