Week five of action from the Southeast Asia Dota Pro Circuit came to a close today with two rather quick series, kicking off with TNC Predator versus 496 Gaming, before Vice Esports took on BOOM Esports.
TNC had shown a few promising signs of life over their last few series, after dropping three very early on in the SEA DPC – but the team were still struggling to make the top three, so a win was imperative to their chances. For 496, having struggled to find their footing, their only saving grace at the event thus far was a victory over Vice, as well as the few games that they had taken off other teams, which left them in the safe zone for now, but with their last series being against Execration next week, they were hoping for some solidarity moving forward.
Unfortunately for 496, today wouldn’t help their situation as TNC showed up with some great performances, never allowing their opponents a moment to breath through the series. With a Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte Alchemist ripping through them with a 1100 Gold Per Minute statistic in game one, 496 were unable to stem the bleed in game two either as they swiftly went down 0-2 to a far stronger looking TNC. Without Trần “Bombi” Hoàng Minh Quý, replaced by Trịnh “458” Văn Thọ for the remainder of the event, 496 seemed to struggle to gain a foothold and eventually TNC’s experience shone through.
For 496, this meant that they would remain in sixth place in the SEA DPC standings, with only a single series left as mentioned before. For TNC, not dropping any games is a massive advantage as they move up into third place, with the current possibility of qualifying to the Major Wild Card, if things remain the same. However, they too have one last series, against Fnatic. Both aforementioned series will be played on February 24th, the penultimate day of the SEA DPC League action.
For the final series of the week in the SEA DPC League, Vice Esports were hoping to finally match their week 3 victory over XctN with another as they took on BOOM Esports. A loss from Vice would see them becoming the first team relegated from the region’s upper division, while a win would cause a massive upset, saving them from certain elimination – but it was unlikely, with BOOM having already dominated earlier in the week. While Vice kept up on the kills to some extent in game one, they neglected the Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon Phantom Lancer, which ended up being the deciding factor. BOOM’s stand-in destroyed the Vice lineup, ending with a massive 20-1-8 to give his team a lead in the series.
From there, Vice seemed completely lost in game two as they were absolutely battered by their opponents. Although the game lasted 36-minutes in total, BOOM racked up an enormous 64 kills, destroying any hopes that Vice had for a comeback. BOOM’s victory, however, leaves them in fifth place, with their fate now in the hands of T1 and TNC in the final week of action. Unfortunately, for Vice Esports, their upper division run in the SEA DPC League comes to an end – but they will be playing from the lower division in Season 2.
headline photo courtesy of Mars Media
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