Image Courtesy: ESL Dota 2
TNC Predator just proved that they are tenacious and calm under pressure while securing a place in the Grand Finals of ESL One: Hamburg 2019 with a scintillating 2-0 victory over Gambit Esports.
The SEA team have gradually become the favourites to take this tournament after their performance here. They’ve only lost a single game in this whole tournament, which is a testament to their consistency and class.
Here’s how they got there.
Gambit Esports vs TNC Predator
Game 1: TNC’s tried and tested formula featuring Nightstalker in the hands of Gabbi as the carry was once again in action in their first game of the day. However, this time it came with a slight modification, instead of also putting Armel on a tempo-control hero, TNC opted to pick up a Medusa for their mid lane adding some late-game insurance.
Fortunately, the team didn’t even end up needing it as they just demolished the early-mid game stages, completely shutting down Gambit Esports and easily marching down the mid lane to claim the victory in under 30 minutes.
Game 2: The second game was a far closer affair. Although TNC picked up their signature Armel Alchemist, Gambit didn’t falter and picked up a lineup that could theoretically dominate and take control of the early-mid game.
However, Armel wasn’t affected in the slightest as his teammates were able to buy enough space for him to continue to keep snowballing in net worth. Gambit Esports simply couldn’t touch Armel, nor could they chew their way through March’s Chen’s constant heals. In the end, they had to resort to picking up a Divine Rapier on GPK’s Gyrocopter.
The impact was instant, TNC Predator was simply not expecting this level of DPS output from the CIS team and was team-wiped in Gambit’s base.
TNC waited out their buybacks, farmed some more and went into Gambit Esports' base and managed to kill off Gyrocopter to retrieve the rapier. However, the Gyrocopter bought another one which instigated yet another great fight from Gambit and ended up with two Divine Rapiers on GPK.
Not many expected TNC to be able to hold against Gambit’s level of damage. But the Filipinos managed to burst down the Gyrocopter, reclaim the rapiers and finally close out the game.
Overall, Game 2 was the best game of the tournament so far, and we'd really recommend watching the replay.
TNC Predator have now advanced to the Grand Finals of ESL One Hamburg 2019 where they’ll be waiting to face either Alliance, Gambit Esports or Vici Gaming Beastcoast.