All-Filipino powerhouse TNC Predator pulled off a reverse sweep against classic rival Fnatic, 2-1, in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Season 2-Southeast Asia Upper Division on Wednesday night, May 19. to secure its first Major appearance this year.
11K MMR carry Kim "Gabbi" Santos wreaked havoc on his Ursa while offlaner Jun "Bok" Kanehara on his Enigma was on-point came up with multiple hero catches through Black Hole in the crucial Game 3.
TNC made sure not to let Fnatic drag the decider into the late game especially with Polo "Raven" Fausto playing Drow Ranger, closing out the all-important game with a 29-16 win in 34 minutes.
Bok caught Djardel "Dj" Mampusti's Enchantress and Kam "Moon" Boon Seng's Timbersaw with the Black Hole as Gabbi and company went on to delete the two along with Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong's Tusk in the 28th minute.
TNC never looked behind from there as it quickly secured Roshan through the Viscous Nasal Goo stacks from Armel "Armel" Tabios' Bristleback before wrapping up the game.
Armel's Puck (10-2-16 kill-death-assist) starred in the 29-20 triumph in the pivotal Game 2.
With the all-important victory, TNC ended the second SEA Upper Division season with a 5-2 record to assure itself at least a top two finish that guarantees a spot in the group stage of the WePlay AniMajor slated June 2 to 13 in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Captain-support Marvin "Boomy" Rushton's team will take on T1 in a tiebreaker for the No. 1 spot should it prevail against ONE Esports Singapore Major top six finisher OB x Neon Esports on Thursday. But if T1 loses, Boomy and the crew will grab the No. 1 slot that gives a ticket straight to the AniMajor playoffs.
It will be TNC's first participation in a Dota 2 Major since the DreamLeague Major in January 2020 and after missing the ONE Esports SG Major last April.
TNC, which was the last SEA team to win a Major tournament when it ruled the MDL Chengdu Major in November 2019, also kept its The International 10 dream alive by racking up at least 300 DPC points.
For its part, Dj and Fnatic closed their campaign with a 4-3 slate and fell in danger of missing out on the Major prior to TI10.
If T1 beats Neon, Fnatic will face Execration (4-3) for the third seed that hands a seat in the AniMajor Wild Card stage. But if Neon prevails, Fnatic will go on a four-way tiebreaker with Neon, Execration and T1 for the No. 2 and No. 3 spots.