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TNC Pro Team will be the first team attending The International from the Main Qualifiers.
The Filipino squad fought through the Southeast Asian qualifiers, only dropping one game to rivals Clutch Gamers, into a tied final match against Fnatic. With only one game between each team and a guaranteed spot at The International at stake, TNC showed that they still have their spark from last year.
Three of last year’s players from the team are a part of this year’s squad. At The International 6, Marc Polo Luis Fausto or “Raven,” Carlo “Kuku” Palad” and Sam_H Samson Solomon Enojosa Hidalgo or “Sam_H” had a surprising underdog run after defeating European favorites OG. Unfortunately, they were taken down by fellow regional team Fnatic.
The narrative was turned around here in the round robin finals, where TNC easily took down Fnatic with devastating Drow and Puck gameplay.
Since TI6, several players have rotated on and off, including Theeban “1437” Siva and analyst Muriel “Kipspul” Huisman. If a solid TI squad is the goal, then TNC clearly accomplished it.
The rest of the teams have ways to go. Remaining in the qualifiers are Fnatic, Mineski and Clutch Gamers. At the time of writing, Execration and Team Faceless are playing a tiebreaker match to determine the final team of “Phase 2.” The GSL-style bracket will determine the last two teams from the region that will attend TI7’s main event in August.