Faceless and TNC seem to have established themselves as the new leaders of Southeast Asian scene with undefeated runs so far in the 2017 Dota 2 Asia Championships qualifiers.
Seeded in different groups, Faceless and TNC had no problems securing the first spot in their respective groups, which pushes them in the double elimination qualifiers playoffs bracket. Joining them will be the winners of the loser’s finals of each group. All four teams will be known tomorrow, February 7.
Group A
After their flawless victory against Signature.Trust, Faceless were joined in the winner finals by the Malaysians from WG Unity, a team well known for early aggression and fast pace games. Faceless countered their play style with two drafts featuring very mobile heroes, emphasizing the early skirmishes. A carry Clinkz for Dominik 'Black^' Reitmeier, sustained by Rubick and Earth Spirit, with mid lane Ember Spirit and an offlane Timbersaw kept WG Unity under control in game one. For game two Faceless secured a good counter initiation draft to stand against a Io- Relocate - Ancient Apparition global strategy coming from the Malay squad and took the series with ease to secure themselves the playoffs spot.
Next Generation vs Signature.Trust
Although they received an invite to DAC 2017 qualifiers only a day before the competition began, as replacements for Fnatic, the Vietnamese from Next Generation are delivering a rather impressive performance. They eliminated the more experienced Signature.Trust and advanced in the loser’s finals where they will have to fight WG Unity again. The rematch should be an interesting one, as the Vietnamese can clearly match WG Unity’s aggressive early game. The only question remaining is whether NextGen will allow the Malaysians to draft Meepo again.
Group B
TNC are continuing to make waves in their region as they keep on crushing opponents. The winner’s finals in Group B was a Pinoy battle between the recent WESG Champions and Mineski, and TNC prevailed with ease. The first game result was decided in only 20 minutes with a perfect Lone Druid execution from Marc Polo 'Raven' Luis Fausto, who finished with a personal K/D/A score of 10-0-5. In the second game, it was Carlo 'Kuku' Palad’s turn to shine on Tinker. With Boots of Travel purchased under ten minutes, he began to wreak havoc on the map really early and pushed TNC in the qualifiers playoffs.
The SEA qualifiers big surprise was provided by the Indonesians from Rex Regum Qeon who had an amazing starting game against TNC and then managed to upset Execration to claim the loser's finals spot. The RRQ vs XctN series went to full three games, the Filipino team taking the victory in game one with a Luna-Shadow Demon-Mirana strategy but losing the next two games to a Weaver- Dark Seer combo.
Loser’s finals schedule:
February 7, 05:00 CET/12:00 SGT: Warriors Gaming Unity vs Next Generation
February 7, 08:00 CET/15:00 SGT: Rex Regum Qeon vs Mineksi
