It’s an end of an era as the winningest Filipino Dota 2 team TNC Predator has announced the release of its entire roster, Monday afternoon.
This includes mainstays Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte, Timothy “Tims” Randrup, and Armel “Armel” Tabios – all of whom have been the faces of the organization for the past three years.
Tims went to The Internationals thrice with TNC, while Armel and Gabbi attended the event with the squad twice and once, respectively.
The position four support has been with the team for almost five years. Meanwhile, the midlaner and carry already logged three years with TNC.
The three also led TNC to a historical win in the MDL Chengdu Major – ranking as the top Dota 2 team in the world heading to The International 10 in the 2019-2020 Dota Pro Circuit Season. That, until the pandemic scrapped the entire season and reset the ranking points.
“It’s been quite the journey these past three to four years, especially with Tims, Armel and Gabbi,” opened TNC’s statement.
“TNC has broken several barriers and overcame many obstacles during this period, and we are grateful to have had such talented players spearheading the growth of Philippine esports on a global scale,” the statement continued.
According to the statement, the trio, along with Jun “Bok” Kanehara and Marvin “Boomy” Rushton, will be free agents starting September 15.
TNC, who missed the ONE Esports Singapore Major after a disastrous campaign in the DPC Southeast Asia Season One, which saw them finish fourth, brought in Boomy and Bok for Season Two.
With the two additions, TNC finished second and managed to qualify for the WePlay AniMajor, the second and last Major of the DPC season, to try and salvage some points needed for TI10.
TNC, however, fell to eventual grand finalist Evil Geniuses and settled for a seventh-eight place finish.
The team then came to a win away from securing a TI10 berth after a last-ditch attempt in the qualifiers saw them take a 2-0 advantage against Fnatic in the grand finals.
Fnatic, however, pulled off a stunning reverse sweep to halt TNC’s four consecutive TI appearances.
“As for Bok and Boomy, you were both essential to our TI run this year, the victories we picked up along the way could not have been done without you. Thank you for sharing your skills and personalities with TNC Predator. You will always be part of our TNC family wherever you may go,” said TNC.
“We would like to formally announce that the full roster of TNC Predator will be free agents on September 15, 2021. The organization and its players have discussed in terms of individual growth and have come to an agreement that this would be the best decision moving forward.”
