TNC Predator has won the Dota 2 competition in the 2018 World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) for the Philippines after sweeping China’s Keen Gaming in the Grand Finals, 2-0.
TNC quickly dispatched of their Chinese opponents in the best-of-three grand finals — with nothing less than two quick victories under 30 minutes each — to take home the US$500,000 grand prize.
This marks the second time that TNC took home the championship at WESG, with their first win being WESG 2016.
Despite a dominant performance in the finals, the Filipino team had to face considerable difficulty on its way to the championship.
TNC topped Group C in the Group Stage to go up against the Brazilian Team Canarinho, who they dispatched 2-0.
They next went up against arguably the strongest team in the tournament, the Russian squad White-Off which consisted of four members of four-straight Major finalists Virtus Pro. While TNC still ended up winning the series 2-0 to advance to the Grand Finals, it was still the closest matchup the team had in the tournament.
Arguably the biggest challenge that TNC had to face happened outside of the games themselves. The Filipino team had to enlist former members from its 2016 lineup — Marc Polo Luis “Raven” Fausto and Nico “eyyou” Barcelon, who are both now with Lotac — as stand-ins for the event.
Former TNC captain Michael “ninjaboogie” Ross Jr. left the team back in February while Carlo “Kuku” Palad was banned from attending WESG after a previous issue with the local government of Chongqing, where the tournament took place.
With that said, TNC’s victory at WESG this year cements their place not only as the best Dota team in the Philippines, but as one of the top dogs of Southeast Asian Dota as well.
