Philippine-based Dota squad becomes first from SEA to win ESL One title

By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Philippine-based Dota 2 team TNC Predator defeated Gambit Esports in a five-game thriller series in the 2019 ESL One Cup, receiving the honors to be the first Southeast Asian team to win the prized tournament.

Pinoy pride trio of Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte, Timothy “Tims” Randrip, and Armel “Armel” Tabios led the squad against the veteran and favorites Gambit, drawing praise from the Dota community in their five-game action-packed series.

The Philippine-based team took home 125,000 dollars or 6,000,000 pesos, which they got from a week of eliminations including the playoffs against the best of the best international Dota has to offer.

The Filipinos are joined by Korean Park “March” Tae-won and Dota 2 renowned leader and veteran Damien “kpii” Chok from Australia.

The team is currently joining a series of tournaments for preparations in the next qualifying rounds of the International tournament.