In the much-awaited matchup between the two titans of Southeast Asian Dota, it was Neon Esports from the Philippines who prevailed over their regional rivals, TNC Predator, in day three of the Asia-Pacific Predator League 2020/21 Grand Final.
It was an unexpected encounter as Neon garnered 35 kills as compared to TNC Predator’s 10 kills, supplemented by a 25,000 net worth advantage.
TNC Predator made a major mistake by allowing Neon Esports to select two of the most powerful heroes in the current patch, namely the Death Prophet and Io. In the end, they paid the price as Erin Jasper "Yopaj" Ferrer’s Death Prophet was able to unleash a huge barrage of damage while John Anthony "Natsumi-" Vargas’ Io sustained him.
It also didn’t help that TNC Predator mistimed their abilities during teamfights which led to counterattacking opportunities to Neon Esports.
Amid the loss, TNC Predator were able to redeem themselves by eliminating Galaxy Racers, a team representing Malaysia, in the lower bracket. It was no easy task as TNC Predator took a grueling 60 minutes to dispatch their opponents. They will face their fellow representatives, Reckoning Esports, in the next round.
The second match saw BOOM Esports, from Indonesia, win over 496 Gaming, from Vietnam. The clutch setups from Saieful "Fbz" Ilham’s Pangolier and Brizio Adi "Hyde" Putra’s Lion was the difference maker in disrupting 496’s momentum.
496 tried to bounce back through Andrew "Drew" Halim’s Troll Warlord, however the crowd control abilities of BOOM hampered his presence.
The loss placed 496 in the lower bracket, where they fell against Reckoning Esports, a team from the Philippines. This led to their exodus from the tournament.
Besides Galaxy Racers and 496 Gaming, two other teams were eliminated, namely Team Mystery from Malaysia and PSTR from Taiwan after suffering casualties in the lower bracket.
The third day likewise marked the debut of the PL 2020/21 Dota 2 Asia Grand Final where Team IMG from Mongolia, trounced Veteran from Myanmar. The Council, a team from
Bangladesh, will proceed to the upper bracket finals to challenge IMG, after defeating Sara Kollo from Sri Lanka.
Besides the PL 2020/21 Dota 2 Asia tournament, the PL 2020/21 PUBG APAC Grand Final also commenced, where GameHome Esports, a team from Vietnam, spearheaded the event with two consecutive chicken dinners in rounds one and two.
Their two chicken dinners were complimented by the 23 kills that they’ve accumulated in the four rounds. Nguyen Long “Clories” Hai leads the team in that category, garnering 10. Overall the team earned 47 points.
Below them are two lowkey teams namely SharpeR White from Thailand and Eagle 365 from Indonesia. They earned 40 and 38 points respectively.
The two representatives from the Philippines delivered a promising start as ArkAngel Predator’s second place finish in round three produced 30 points, placing them at the fifth spot. Renbert "AljnBOTz" Alvior is part of the leaderboards, with nine kills after four rounds.
After a slow start, TroubleMaku secured a chicken dinner victory in round four, giving them 29 points and a seventh place finish.
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