Arnel put up a sensational Magnus performance when it mattered.
Arnel towed TNC Predator to the ESL One Thailand 2020: Asia Championship, besting Indonesian squad BOOM Esports, 3-2, in a thrilling best-of-five Grand Finals series, Sunday evening.
The 20-year-old middlelaner posted a monster KDA of 16 kills, a death, and eight assists with a total net worth of 22,524. He also averaged 715 gold per minute and 840 experience per minute in the game that lasted for 32 minutes and 24 seconds.
The supporting cast of Tims (Mirana) and March (Venomancer) backstopped Armel, combining for a total of five kills, four deaths, and a whopping 35 assists for the game.
Meanwhile, Gabbi (Slark) and kpii (Void Spirit) provided the additional damage and finished with stat lines of 4-3-12 and 4-4-11, respectively.
The struggling Dreamocel, who capped their Game One win with a rampage, ended the game with four kills and five deaths playing Morphling for BOOM Esports.
Though TNC finished the title-clinching Game Five with ease, the Filipinos hit a snag in the first game — surrendering the opener to a well-farmed Dreamocel (Terrorblade) which proved to be a torn for TNC.
But the Predators managed to regain their bearings, bagging games two and three to move on the cusp of the championship. But Boom Esports was able to send the series to a deciding Game Five through a superb Outworld Devourer game from Mikoto.
TNC dominated the tourney, winning four of their five matches in the group stages. The squad only a series when they faced Fnatic in the first phase.
This is the organization’s first major championship since winning the MDL Chengdu Major and ESL One Hamburg in 2019.
The Predators then bulldozed their way in the playoffs, annihilating fellow Filipino squad Neon Esports in the upper bracket before taking down BOOM Esports in the upper bracket finale.
BOOM Esports, on the other hand, had to defeat Fnatic in the lower bracket final for the right to go up against TNC once more.
The Filipinos will go home with a total of US$ 50,000 cash prize.
TNC’s Damien “kpii” Chok — an Australian national — was nominated for the Mercedes Benz Most Valuable Player of ESL One from the Asian leg along with Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong of Fnatic.
Also competing for the brand new Mercedes Benz car are Rodrigo “Lelis” Santos and Leonardo “LeoStyle-” Sifuentes from the South America region.
