Filipino powerhouse TNC Predator evaded an upset scare from Indonesia's Boom Esports, 2-1, for a rebound victory while Smart Omega faltered anew this time to Fnatic, 2-1, in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Season 2-Southeast Asia Upper Division on Wednesday night, May 5.
11K MMR carry Kim "Gabbi" Villafuerte went ham on his Tiny in the deciding Game 3 as TNC ripped Boom apart with a 28-14 kill score and forced the GG call in nearly 35 minutes.
Gabbi dished out a game-high 29K damage to rack up 13 kills and 10 assists without a death while finishing with a 21K net worth.
Captain-support Marvin "Boomy" Rushton on Nyx Assassin chipped in 17 assists while Timothy "Tims" Randrup on Phoenix tallied an 8-3-12 kill-death-assist record.
TNC proved better in team fights with Armel "Armel" Tabios' midlane Medusa equipped with Aghanim's Scepter and Tims' well-placed Supernova ultimate even as offlaner Jun "Bok" Kanehara set up pickoffs.
Armel's Puck and Boomy's position-5 Tiny fueled TNC's relentless assault in the 26-10 Game 1 triumph but they fell on the receiving end of a 31-10 rout in Game 2 with Rafli "Mikoto" Rahman's Ember Spirit and Saieful "Fbz" Ilham's Night Stalker leading the charge for Boom.
TNC bounced back from a shocking 2-1 loss to Carlo "Kuku" Palad and Karl "Karl" Jayme's T1 last Saturday and remained atop the eight-team Upper Division with a 4-1 record, ahead of Execration (3-2) and Boom (3-3).
Meanwhile, Djardel "Dj" Mampusti and Polo "Raven" Fausto's Fnatic got its second win in a row at the expense of the skidding Omega, 2-1.
Dj and the crew foiled Omega's attempt to use the Morphling-Dark Willow cheese strategy at the hands of carry Justine "Tino" Grimaldo and soft support Mark "Shanks" Redira in the do-or-die Game 3.
After starting its campaign with a surprising 2-0 loss to Execration, Fnatic improved to 2-1 and moved to No. 4 in the standings.
On the other hand, Omega suffered its third consecutive defeat after going on an impressive two-game winning start as it sank deeper to No. 6.
Omega will try to arrest its slide against the Singapore Major top six finisher OB x Neon Esports (1-2), which is surprisingly on a two-game losing skid, on Thursday.