In the first LAN match of the newly released 7.06 patch, TnC dominated iG with the new patch, and their new captain, putting the Chinese squad into the lower bracket in just over an hour.
Game One
The first LAN match of 7.06 started off in spectacular fashion, as TnC stuck it to iG and took the first game of the series in a quick 23-minute victory. Draftwise, TnC had a much more aggressive and mobile lineup compared to iG’s push and team fight power.
Early on, TnC took control of the game’s pace with their short cooldowns and continual rotations around the map. Compounded with an aggressive trilane to contest iG’s Luna, TnC dominated their three lanes. To make matters worse for the Chinese squad, Marco Polo ‘Raven’ Luis Fausto’s Lycan had uncontested free farm, which he made great use of, picking up objectives and kills all around the map.
After the first and last Roshan at 19 minutes, along with the subsequent fight after, TnC pushed up iG’s bottom highground relatively uncontested. IG called GG a few minutes after and looked to the drawing board for game two.
Game Two
In game two of the best of three, iG showed signs of life, as they weathered the early and mid game aggression from TnC. However, the lead that TnC gained just seemed too much to overcome, and TnC closed it out in around 50 minutes. Draftwise, iG looked to have a more suitable lineup this time around, especially with a Tinker for Ou ‘OP’ Peng. The also seemed to have a strong team fight lineup with an offlane Enigma for Lin ‘Xxs’ Jing and Sand King for Ye ‘BoBoKa’ Zhibiao—the former of the two, looking a bit uncomfortable on the hero compared to his signature Magnus. TnC went again with their crucial Jakiro pick for Theeban ‘1437’ Siva and a much faster tempo lineup as well, with a very nice Lina for Kuku ‘KukU’ Carlo Palad.
Early game went a bit better for iG compared to game one, picking up two kills in the first six minutes. Despite the kills, TnC once again dominated the laning stage and transitioning into the midgame, the Filipinos looked to be in prime position to take the game after a great fight at 18 minutes, securing three kills and Roshan. TnC transitioned the Aegis into objectives around the map and at 23 minutes, the Filipinos had secured a 12k networth lead over the Chinese squad, who also had no outer towers remaining. Despite their lead, the game slowed down and the brief respite allowed iG to grab some crucial items for their lineup. At 28 minutes, iG showed more signs of life, after a three-man chain feed from TnC, but it was short lived, as TnC took another Roshan shortly after.
As the game transitioned into its final stages, iG just couldn’t seem to find the right engagement despite a number of good fights. At 45 minutes, iG looked to push TnC’s highground with their ultimates off cooldown, but a wraparound by the Filipinos split the Chinese lineup in two, and allowed TnC to pick off their targets with ease. GG was called shortly after and the Filipinos, with their new captain, look to the second round where they face the winner of VG.J and Alliance.
