SEA’s Fnatic off to a shaky start however
The first day of The International 2017 group stage could have been a disaster for the fans of Southeast Asian Dota if not for TNC Pro Team‘s three wins and Execration‘s one game off of Virtus Pro.
The reigning kings of SEA commenced the group stage facing one of the favorites to take this year’s Aegis of Champions, Evil Geniuses. The last time these two teams faced on a group stage of a Valve event was during the Kiev Major where TNC successfully pulled off an upset against the North American titan.
With an early advantage in both kills and towers during the first game, TNC was in shape to repeat last time’s result until Arteezy’s pocket Lycan pick chased the lead down to their favor. His innate ability to take towers down fast limited TNC’s map control, allowing the rest of EG’s heroes to catch up on items and take the first game.
The same aggression from the boys in blue continued up to the second one. Cr1t-‘s Precision Aura-empowered long range draft gave the Filipino hopefuls a hard time during the laning phase. However, just like in the first game, a hero stepped up his game to save the day. Raven, from out of nowhere, let EG bled to death with his 19/0/8 Phantom Assassin.
On the other side of the map, TNC’s Filipino comrades were not having the best start. Execration failed to score a win against their first challenge, LGD.ForeverYoung, and eventually Group B’s Day 1 leader. It could have been worse for the Filipino representatives if not for their hard-fought victory against the CIS powerhouse, Virtus.pro.
Raging Potato’s push-heavy draft starred by Bristleback, Keeper of the Light, and the surging Pugna halted the snowballing frontline of no[o]ne and RAMZES666 who played Sniper and Troll Warlord, respectively. Despite failing to secure the sweep, Execration’s win agianst VP still proved to be pivotal as it avoided a day 1 bottom finish with Cloud9.
Sadly, Fnatic-Dota failed to avoid the bottom finish as the group stage’s first day concluded. They suffered the same fate as Execration did after opening their TI journey againts LGD Gaming, Group A’s leader after day 1. Meanwhile, the SEA bloodbath between TNC and Fnatic only proved that the Phoenix’s position as the region’s best is still solid, especially in the wake of a disbanded Team Faceless.
This, however, is only the start for the SEA representatives. The second day of The International 2017 group stage will continue later at 00:30 SGT with Execration taking on HellRaisers.
