Right after claiming a spot in The International 2019, TNC Predator had to battle one of the best teams in the world, Vici Gaming, to determine who would lock in a top three finish at the EPICENTER Major.
After an extremely close series, Vici prevailed with a guaranteed top finish and enough Dota Pro Circuit points to topple Evil Geniuses from their third-place ranking.
Vici went 4-1 through groups, only dropping a single game to Forward Gaming in the first round. When playoffs began, they made a statement in game one against Gambit Esports and ended up sweeping the CIS squad despite Gambit playing some of their best Dota in the last round.
That set up a battle between one of the best Chinese teams and another of Southeast Asia’s finest squads. Riding their high from claiming the TI9 ticket and an 18-minute win, Predator came out swinging.
Game one was a slugfest, but Predator got out to a fast start that let them take control. Vici got their strategy together a little too late to fully pull the game back, but they made it competitive and pressured Vici into making a few mistakes.
Carlo “Kuku” Palad’s Venomancer made some great rotations in lane and was an amazing asset in the late-game team fights. With 38,080 hero damage to help push his team over the edge, Predator had Vici on the edge of falling to the lower bracket.
It was an odd showing from both sides, who played defensively in lane, which made the 53-minute match feel even longer with only a 23-15 kill output in favor Predator.
That slow start that Vici showed in game one was completely gone by the start of the next match, and, thankfully, both teams were more willing to risk some offensive plays. Zeng “Ori” Jiaoyang hard pushed on Sniper and dominated every fight he was involved in.
He alone had 53,462 hero damage and put up a 12/4/17 statline along the way. Vici’s draft favored the endgame more than Predator’s did, which meant they never looked back after finding their opening to tie the series up 1-1.
Predator put everything on the board for game three, drafting Juggernaut for Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte and Grmstroke for Nico “eyyou” Barcelon, Predator’s choice to swa eyyou to rotation while Timothy “Tims” Randrup took over on a support hero, worked for them in previous rounds, but not against Vici.
Vici waltzed into the lanes running a Death Prophet, Mars, and Troll Warlord that just could not be stopped. That core combined for 51,584 hero damage in just 30 minutes as they decimated their SEA opponents.
By 25 minutes in, they were entering the high grounds and preparing to attack the Aegis, and they ultimately did so to halt Predator’s upper bracket run. Vici will face Team Liquid on June 28 to see which team will move into grand finals.
Predator will now drop into the lower bracket to play whoever comes out of the third round, which will likely be either Team Secret or LGD Gaming.
Published: Jun 25, 2019 10:08 pm