TNC, Team Liquid forge draw
All-Filipino DOTA 2 pro team TNC came very close to sweeping Team Liquid, but had to settle for a draw after a series of misplays at WePlay AniMajor late Sunday.
Composed of Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte, Armel “Armel” Tabios, Jun “bok” Kanehara, Timothy “Tims” Randrup and Marvin “Boomy” Rushton, TNC drafted a team savvy lineup of Enchantress, Templar Assassin, Phoenix, Dragon Knight and Axe for Game 1.
Their more well-rounded lineup allowed them to take control of the fight just 16 minutes into the opening stanza.
Gabbi’s carry Axe made his presence felt early while Armel’s Templar Assassin led the game in farms and got the first Aegis of the Immortal.
The Filipinos broke the tier two tower on top at the 18:00 mark and were ahead on gold by 10,000 a minute later.
Mars, who enjoyed a high pick rate in the tournament, was reduced to using his Arena to momentarily halt TNC’s relentless assault.
Gabbi’s carry Axe applied heavy pressure against Liquid early in the game just like the previous round.
TNC was ahead on kills, 12-10, by the 22:00 mark and was able to break the tier two tower on the bottom.
Gabbi got a double kill and was dominating seven minutes later as their composition made quick work of Lina.
Then, TNC broke the tier three towers on the middle and bottom lane. With Templar Assassin unkillable, Team Liquid was forced to wave the white flag and call GG allowing the Philippine team to win Round 1.
Liquid’s lineup of Mars, Templar Assassin, Snapfire, Lone Druid, and Lion looked like the underdog against TNC’s Axe, Phoenix, Clockwerk, Leshrac, and Bristleback but it was that draft that allowed them to get even in Game 2.
Gabbi’s carry Axe applied heavy pressure against Liquid early in the game just like the previous round, but Tims with his Phoenix got the first couple of kills as he scored two on top against Snapfire and Lone Druid.
Syed “Sumail” Hassan’s Templar Assassin got the upper hand against Armel’s Leshrac in the battle of mid lane, allowing him to take the lead on gold and catch up on kills as Liquids took the lead, 10-7, at the 18:00 mark.
Liquid tried to take Roshan at 19:00 and the teams clashed outside the pit where TNC lost Axe and Leshrac while Liquid lost Mars and Snapfire.
Sumail was at level 19 two minutes later and was able to single-handedly break the tier two tower at the bottom.
A vital clash occurred in the 27:00 mark where TNC killed Snapfire, Lion and Mars, forcing Liquid to get a buyback. As soon as the entire squad was back Liquid took an uncontested Roshan to further extend its gold lead.
Liquid pushed with all it had on the bottom only to see a level 25 Templar Assassin lose Aegis of the Immortal as TNC ganged up on her twice. They cleared the lanes afterwards only to lose a team fight on the bottom losing three.
Liquid seemingly secured the win the following clash as Templar Assassin registered a triple kill that saw Axe get sent back to base.
Gabbi dove by himself at the 43:00 mark as Liquid pushed on top.
He took a buyback as he watched Leshrac and Clockwerk die at the base.
Gabbi’s dive proved to be a costly mistake as Liquid broke the barracks then went straight to destroy the ancient.