The first two months of the Dota 2 Pro Circuit season were less than kind to TNC Pro Team. Although they participated in seven different LAN qualifiers over the last two months, they failed to make it through every single one.
Their luck has finally turned around. Earlier today, they successfully punched their ticket to the sixth season of the Mars Dota 2 League (MDL), to be held in Macau this December.
In the qualifier tournament itself, TNC plowed through WarriorsGaming.Unity and Fnatic, sweeping them both in their respective best-of-three series. They then clashed with Mineski in the finals, which went to all three games.
TNC was heavily outdrafted for most of the finals series, but they somehow overcame their draft disadvantage. The second game in particular had fans scratching their heads at how they managed to pull off a win, considering that they were up against Daryl “iceiceice” Koh’s signature Timbersaw while running a super greedy lineup with both Phantom Lancer and Terrorblade.
MDL Macau will be TNC’s first Pro Circuit event of the new season, after struggling for so long since their early exit at The International 7. After deciding not to change their roster at all in the post-TI7 shuffle, things got even worse for them in terms of results.
This undoubtedly comes as a relief to the Filipino team. Their fans, who have been hoping to see them back on their feet after being eliminated from TI7 in the top 12, can also now breathe a little.
Their victory also means a little bit more than one would initially expect, given that they had to defeat Mineski in order to qualify for this tournament. Mineski has been considered as the strongest Southeast Asian Dota 2 team since the beginning of the Pro Circuit season—even winning the PGL Open in Bucharest several weeks ago.
But now, TNC stands as a serious rival to Mineski’s reign over the region as of late. Should they keep their momentum going, the competition in Southeast Asia could become just as intense as it was last season.
