Armel “Armel” Tabios’ Puck in Game Three made all the difference as TNC escaped Damien “kpii” Chok’s Team SMG via a 2-1 result to advance to the upper bracket semifinals of The International 10 Southeast Asia regional qualifiers, Wednesday evening.
Despite suffering a few hiccups in the early stages of Game Three, TNC managed to win a couple of clashes heading to the late game and shut the doors on Team SMG’s comeback chances.
Armel steadied the ship for TNC, finishing with a game-high 13 kills along with 12 assists and just two deaths with his signature hero Puck to lead TNC’s 30-12 win.
Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte’s Terrorblade also did not disappoint, going for the Daedalus and Eye of Skadi late as he finished with eight kills and 11 assists against just one death while team captain Marvin “Boomy” Rushton’s Phoenix had a game-high 17 assists laced with two kills without tallying a single death.
Meanwhile, Team SMG carry Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng — who last played for two-time TI champion OG — failed to deliver as he ended up with a kill, three assists, and six deaths playing Medusa.
“We’re feeling great, we have this win so yeah, sure. That’s for sure, we just focused on our game and did not think of anything else,” said TNC team captain Marvin “Boomy” Rushton.
Jun “Bok” Kanehara’s Broodmother took care of the early game while Gabbi’s Spectre dominated late as TNC bagged Game One through a convincing 32-13 outing.
Bok spearheaded TNC’s early assault, paving the way for Gabbi to farm up freely around the map without threat from Team SMG members.
Gabbi posted a perfect 11-0-15 stat line in Game One to lead TNC while Bok finished with nine kills and 15 assists against just two deaths in the win.
After a subpar outing in Game One, Team SMG came back with a huge 30-18 whipping of TNC riding the back of Kam “Moon” Boon Seng’s Riki.
The former Fnatic midlaner tallied 13 and nine assists against just three deaths in Game Two to help Team SMG tie the series at 1-all.
TNC will next face the winner between the Execration-BOOM Esports upper bracket quarterfinal match-up while Team SMG will drop to the lower bracket where they will face Lilgun.
