The lower bracket finals of the SEA regional qualifiers would see TNC going up against Mineski in a best of three for a spot at the Kiev Major.
After Mineski lost out to Team Faceless in the previous final, they were looking to make up for that defeat and claim their spot at the Kiev Major by beating out TNC to the second available spot. For TNC, they had played significantly better in their previous series versus Clutch Gamers and would be fighting to get to Kiev too.
Game One
A quick start to the game for TNC would grab them first blood as they utilised their first smoke to invade into the Radiant side of the map and find an early kill. While they were having a bit of trouble in their mid-lane, their bottom lane was dominating Galvin 'Meracle' Kang Jian Wen on the Clinkz and pushing the side lanes harder. With ten minutes passed TNC had a 7-2 lead along with both tier 1 towers in the side lanes. They continued their dominance in the game by grabbing the first aegis before fifteen minutes and then moved to mid to drop the tier 1 and 2 towers.
But Mineski would not give up easily and soon after they had dropped two towers in the top lane, they proceeded to completely wipe the Dire line-up in a massive team fight. With that, the score-line stood at 8-9 to TNC. With the advantage gained from the fight, Mineski begun to take full control of the game, constantly taking team fights and pushing the lanes out. But once again the game swung into the favour of TNC as Mineski over-stayed their welcome when pushing up to the high ground. Around twenty six minutes in TNC wiped the Radiant team.
In the matter of minutes TNC had managed to completely swing the game back into their favour, as they dropped the barracks bottom lane. With an aegis to follow, TNC looked set to take to the high ground again. But the high-ground seemed to be the bane of both teams as Mineski took a good fight and moved up to the high ground again where they dropped the melee barracks mid.
The game still hung in the balance though and one good team fight would decide the outcome. With forty minutes passed, TNC claimed another aegis and looked to the high ground once more. After a long assault that was ultimately fruitless for the Dire, they backed off and Mineski looked to use a smoke to try push back and take the advantage. But this turned out to be the wrong decision as the Dire dominated them in the final moments before Mineski threw out the GG call.
After a very back and forth game one, TNC managed to hold their own and take the win, giving them a 1-0 lead in the series and taking them one step closer to Kiev.
Game Two
This game begun in a similar manner to the first, with TNC taking the early lead in the bottom lane. But before the game got too far out of hand, Mineski begun to find their footing, ensuring they had themselves on equal standing with TNC as they found a few kills around the map. Mineski continued to build on this as they pushed down the tier 1 tower in the bottom lane. With fifteen minutes passed, Mineski had a 5-8 lead and a few moments later they also claimed an aegis.
This time it would be TNC to turn the game around – as they completely wiped Mineski in the top lane before pushing down the tier 1 and 2 towers as well. With this, TNC decided to move to the high ground and dropped the tier three tower mid but the turnaround came again as Mineski dropped four from the Radiant line up and moved into the Rosh pit to claim the aegis. Both teams were definitely playing some of the best Dota possible with the team fights being brilliant from both sides.
TNC were looking to constantly push the high ground but Mineski were ready to defend it over and over again, not allowing the Radiant access to the barracks and split pushing with their Ember Spirit. TNC’s constant pressure secured the melee battacks but it also lost them almost their entire team in the proceeding fight and once again the game swung back and forth as TNC continued to try make a stand on the Dire high ground but kept getting pushed back.
Much like in game one of the series, everything hung in the balance, with a single team fight possibly standing in the way of a win or loss for either team. And this came just after fifty five minutes as Mineski managed to drop the entire team from TNC. But instead of utilising this time to push, they took the safer option and claimed an aegis. TNC knew that they had one last chance and they pushed up mid – but were met by Mineski ready to team wipe them again and take game two to tie the series.
Another back and forth game saw both teams making some amazing plays, but in the end Mineski stuck it out and game three was sure to be extremely exciting.
Game Three
Again in the series, much like the first two games, we saw TNC getting a great lead and pressure in the early game. With ten minutes passed Mineski had quelled the pressure a little and were 5-4 down on the scoreboard. But TNC were still in firm control of the game and after taking down all of the tier 1 towers on the Dire side, they claimed an aegis.
This game had a significantly less amount of big team fights and with twenty five minutes passed, TNC still held the lead at 11-5 and had dropped the tier 3 tower in mid lane. The first major team fight came soon after this point outside the Roshan pit and it was TNC who came out ahead and proceeded to claim the aegis. With the aegis in hand, the Radiant moved onto the high ground again.
With the aegis in hand and a great line-up behind them, TNC pushed straight through and ended the game. A much smoother game from TNC saw them dominate the Mineski line up and claim the series to secure their spot at the Kiev Major. Unfortunately for Mineski, this would be the end of their road to Kiev, even after some fantastic Dota 2 from them.
