TNC Predator made history by becoming the first Southeast Asian team to ever win ESL One after a tiring and intense series of five games at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany.
The Filipins team was totally dominant during the group stage, leaving only a single map in their campaign until reaching the grand final.
With the victory, Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte’s, Timothy “Tims” Randrip, Armel “Armel” Tabios, Australian Damien “kpii” Chok and Korean park “March” Tae-won granted a prize of $125,000.
The Game
Game five looked like they could follow Gambit’s path towards the title when they managed to secure Lifestealer and Ember Spirit for their players along with Shachlo Kunkka. But TNC went in exactly the opposite direction and set up a deadly strategy.
With the series and the tournament in play, TNC drafted Alchemist for Armel to match Gabbi’s Bristleback, which proved to be all they needed to win the series and secure the title.
TNC bet on a strategy of catching the opponent’s attention in the lanes at early game, letting Armel’s Alchemist farm freely in the jungle to the point of being immortal! In 30 minutes, GG was summoned and TNC proved that many people were wrong, thus earning the grand prize.
Gambit also showed that joining the CDM Chengdu Major was no accident and has a team ready to compete in the Dota Pro Circuit this season.
