In the first major of the season in Chengdu, China, TNC Predator defeated ViCi in the final to avenge their only loss of the tournament and become the first major champions of the 2019/20 season.
The result didn’t shock any fan who wasn’t living under a rock, however as TNC Predator had come into this tournament on a bit of a streak, as they had just won the $300,000 ESL One Hamburg tournament and topped their group, defeating both team Unknown and EHOME 2-0, before surprisingly going down to ViCi in the next match, their only loss of the tournament.
The Predator’s key to success was using the Morphling and Earthshaker combination to devastating effect. With many players complaining about the OPness of such a combination and a nerf likely to come, it will be interesting to see how often players use this combo later in the season.
While TNC have every right to celebrate such a win, fans aren’t holding their breath just yet due to the fact that even after such a seemingly impressive performance, it would be surprising to see them at the top, due to the fact that giants like OG chose to sit out this tournament. For now, however, TNC can rejoice over a dominant performance and a clear indication of where they want to sit in the DOTA 2 race for TI 10.
