It's back to work for TNC Predator after a whirlwind post-The International 2019 shuffle.
The Philippine pro gaming team, which saw two of its core members from that historic TI6 run departing, quickly regrouped and secured the chance to represent the country at the World Electronic Sports Games 2019 Southeast Asia Finals.
TNC got off to a rough start against Lowkey Esports in the PH online qualifiers, but managed to pull off a reverse sweep to advance to the quarterfinals. The ensuing series versus Helmsphere and Adroit — the country's official Dota 2 team for the SEA Games — proved to be easier and set a finals matchup with Execration.
TI9 All-Star Timothy "Tims" Randrup and Co., which also received a direct invite to ESL One Hamburg this October in Germany, drew first blood against Execration, before the latter turned the tables for the equalizer. In the end, TNC was just too much for XctN as it ran away with the decider.
Expectations are high for this
squad — albeit revamped — that ruled the international stage of last year's WESG and its 2016 edition, but finished 9-12th at TI9.
Damien "kpii" Chok and Taewon "March" Park replaced TNC captain Nico "eyyou" Barcelon and Carlo "Kuku" Palad, who recently reunited with TI6 teammate Marco Luis Polo "Raven" Fausto at Geek Fam. The two foreigns players joined the solid core of Tims, Kim "Gabbi" Villafuerte, and Armel "Armel" Tabios.
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