Looks like the king of the SEA Region is back as TNC Predator won the Dota 2 BTS Pro Series Season 4: Southeast Asia. The win was hard-earned as they beat Team Dog in a match that went the distance.
In the Americas, Thunder Predator surprised everyone by winning their leg of the tournament. The win was truly impressive as they worked their way up and beat many of the region’s top teams.
The King is Back
TNC actually had a good start for 2020 as it managed to get the top spot in the DPC Ranking. However, with the DPC Season being canceled due to the pandemic, TNC actually had a bit of a hard time in succeeding tournaments. Its last success was taking 1st place at ESL One Thailand 2020: Asia back in September.
The team looks to end the year on a good note as it also puts other Dota 2 teams in the region on notice. So, what happened in the BTS Pro Series S4? TNC ended the Group Stage on a high note. The team had four wins and three draws.
In the first round of the Upper Bracket, the team got the upper hand against Fnatic and moved to the Upper Bracket Finals. This was against Team Dog, a team composed of some of the region’s top players and for this tournament only. The team had a hard time and eventually lost and fell down to the Lower Bracket.
But TNC swept T1 and got a rematch with Team Dog. In the first game, they breezed through against Team Dog with Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte on Morphling, getting 12 kills. Team Dog did not take it sitting down and won the next two games. Special mention goes to Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang who got 16 kills on Viper and Abed Azel “Abed” Yusop with 12 kills on Storm Spirit in the third game.
With momentum going their way, Team Dog wanted to close out the match and was even prepared for late-game with their picks. Yet TNC’s Troll Warlord, Death Prophet, and Underlord picks were able to hold off and get the win. In the fifth game, TNC again won with a strong tri-core that dominated the mid-game team fights. Team Dog was again preparing for a late-game with their picks. But TNC got the lead early and never looked back to get the win and the championship.
Surprise! Surprise!
In the Americas, Thunder Predator surprised everyone with the win. The team barely managed to get an Upper Bracket appearance and faced 4 Zoomers in the first round. It was 4 Zoomers that grabbed the win and dropped Thunder Predator to the Lower Bracket.
The team worked their way up to the Grand Final by sweeping beastcoast and winning against SADBOYS 2–1. The Grand Final was a rematch with 4 Zoomers.
In the first game, 4 Zoomers showed Thunder Predator again by winning. The second game was a bit close with Thunder Predator eventually breaking away to win and tie the series. In the third game, it was all Thunder Predator dominating the match.
For the fourth game, 4 Zoomers tried to even out the series. However, it wouldn’t matter as Thunder Predator never gave an inch and clinched the championship.
Smells like Team Spirit
Even before the Semifinals started, it was revealed that Yellow Submarine had been signed by Team Spirit. In a way though, it was clear who was going to meet in the Grand Finals, and it was Vikin.gg against Team Spirit.
The match was what you would expect as Team Spirit pretty much made everything one-sided. They dominated their opponents and won the matches.
Looking to 2021
This is going to be the last tournament of 2020 that has many of the known teams competing. Valve announced previously that it was bringing back the DPC Season. In fact, the 2021 Season is set to begin on January 18. There will be a new format so it's going to be exciting to see how the different teams will manage. You can read more about that here.
So, what was your favorite part of this tournament?
