Can They Get Past the Chinese Powerhouse?
The moment of the greatest upset in the history of Dota still stays fresh in my memory. The falsetto of TobiWan excitedly shouting how Team OG is preparing for TNC Pro Team’s final high ground siege, SamH catching two important heroes on his Chronosphere, and Miracle- dropping his Divine Rapier…
“The Filipinos have done it!”
I can still remember how Kuku stuttered during the interview. He stuttered so bad that people dubbed the conversation with Kaci harder than the feat of beating OG themselves. This was understandable because if I were to make history as big as Kuku’s squad did, I’d probably have lost my words too.
“I don’t know that we can beat them two times. We just went all in!”
Tomorrow midnight marks the return of the Rising Phoenix to the stages of KeyArena after a year. Much has changed in the professional Dota 2 scene since they last stepped on it, but one thing which remains the same for their comeback is that they are still matched with a powerhouse.
All eyes are on LGD.ForeverYoung after they finished The International 2017 group stages with an almost perfect score card at 14-2. They are the Group B leaders who thought that they would have the best odds of advancing further into the upper brackets if they picked TNC as their opponent.
There’s not much to discuss regarding the way LFY plays their game except for how they back their push-heavy lineup up with an efficient support duo for ddc and ahfu. Being able to shut the rotation of ahfu on his meta-empowered heroes such as Sand King, Night Stalker, Nyx Assassin, etc., can negate the space hi provides for the carries.
But then again, the mechanical capabilities of TNC to defeat LFY should be the least of our problems. There’s a reason why they are regarded as the Kings of SEA and why Fnatic’s Febby regarded the squad as the only tier one team in the region.
What’s an equally-important factor we need to consider is their mindset coming into the game. They need to get into the same, or even better, zone than during last year’s The International when they knew that OG would be their next challenge.
At a stage this big with stakes this high, strategy on the battlefield is not the only thing to consider. What’s more important is the faith in yourselves. The ability to handle pressure despite all the odds stacked against you.
Last year, TNC’s faith helped them eliminate who many thought would bear the Aegis of Champions. Now they’re not only armed with faith but a year of becoming stronger. How far can TNC’s faith take them now?
