(This piece was written for Acer's Predator League. It was sent across numerous media outlets.)
Among the 26 teams across 9 regions, it was Eagle 365 from Indonesia and TNC Predator from the Philippines who soared in the festivities as they claimed the coveted Asia-Pacific Predator League 2020/21 Grand Final trophy for the APAC region.
Eagle 365 secured a landslide victory after 12 rounds of PUBG. Their performances in the first eight rounds, where they won three consecutive chicken dinners in rounds six, seven, and eight, and a consistent top five finish in the other rounds was enough for them to be crowned as champions.
Risky "Chibiritt" Junaidi Putra was a key catalyst for their victory and his efforts yielded an MVP trophy.
While Eagle 365 was sitting comfortably on top, the second and third seed spots was caught in a crossfire between the representatives from Vietnam namely Cerberus, GameHome Esports, and No.1, ArkAngel Predator from the Philippines, SharpeR White from Thailand, and Victim Rise from Indonesia.
Prior to the remaining four rounds, ArkAngel was second with 76 points. Trailing them were third seeded Cerberus with 67 points and eighth seeded No.1 with only 44 points. However they both made a furious rally to topple ArkAngel.
Cerberus capitalized on ArkAngel’s dismal performance and secured a chicken dinner victory in round 10 and a fourth place finish in round 12, garnering 104 points and a second place finish.
But the biggest storyline came from No.1, who climbed from the jaws of defeat to a third place finish as they secured a chicken dinner victory in round 11 and a second place finish in round 12. Their miraculous run produced 97 points and a third place finish.
These two teams also have to credit TroubleMaku from the Philippines and the individual performances of Shen from Battle Arena Elites as they spoiled the ascent of SharpeR White and Victim Rise.
Eagle 365’s victory earned them USD37,500, while Cerberus and No.1 brought home USD15,000 and USD7,500 respectively.
It wasn’t only Eagle 365 who brought home the bacon, as TNC Predator defended their Predator League trophy by beating their fellow representatives, Neon Esports.
Neon came to the tournament with a lot of momentum after shocking the entire Dota scene with their impressive 5th-6th place finish in the Singapore Major. They even made their statement by dominating TNC in their previous encounter.
However the tables have turned in the PL 2020/21 Dota 2 APAC Grand Final as TNC swept them aside.
Before reaching the final, TNC had to contend against BOOM Esports from Indonesia, where they easily cruised over them.
During the final, TNC outplayed their rivals. In game one, they opted to select Io, a hero who was recently nerfed in the 7.29 update.
Yet he proved to be a crucial piece as he sustained and provided the boost for Armel Paul "Armel" Tabios’ Invoker. Seeing that Neon’s lineup featured a lot of magic damage dealers, TNC opted to go for a triple Black King Bar timing strategy, which proved to be the difference maker in every teamfight.
The second game was decided by their draft as Neon had no answer against Armel’s Bristleback. It likewise helped that he was heavily supported by Marvin "Boomy" Rushton’s Winter Wyvern, who was seen stacking the creep camps to further enhance Armel’s farming.
Amid the loss, Neon garnered individual honors as Erin Jasper "Yopaj" Ferrer bagged the MVP trophy.
TNC’s victory has given them USD50,000 as cash prize, while Neon obtained USD25,000. BOOM Esports earned USD10,000 and a 2nd-runner up finish.
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