By Drew Malihan
MANILA -- Philippine-based Dota 2 teams TNC Predator and Team Adroit will represent the Filipino gaming community in the MDL Chengdu Major from Nov. 16-24 at the Chengdu Century City New International Convention and Exhibition Center.
Chengdu Major will be the first Major of the 2019-20 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Season, which teams can garner points for a chance of a direct invitation to The International 10.
TNC Predator will head to their first DPC Major without Carlo "Kuku^" Palad and Nico "eyyou" Barcelon, following their departure last Sept. 13.
The 2019 ESL One Hamburg champions will be led by former Fnatic coach Park "March" Tae-won and Damien "kpii" Chok, while maintaining the Pinoy core of Kim "Gabbi" Villafuerte, Armel Paul "Armel" Tabios, adnd Timothy "Tims" Randrup.
TNC qualified to the tournament after a 2-1 win over fellow Filipino side and co-qualifier Team Adroit in the semifinals of the Southeast Asian qualifiers.
As for Team Adroit, this is their last tournament before the start of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, with the entire team forming the backbone of the Philippines' national Dota 2 roster.
The all-Visayan squad will be led by Bryle "cml" Alvizo with his co-Sibol teammates John Anthony "Natsumi-" Vargas, Mc Nicholson "Mac" Villanueva, Jun "Bok" Kanehara, and Marvin "Boombacs" Rushton completing the team.
Adroit earned the final SEA berth after sweeping fellow Sibol teammates Cignal Ultra in the battle for third place.
Two more Filipino players will join the Chengdu Major, with Abed Azel "Abed" Yusop suiting up for North American powerhouse Evil Geniuses, and Djardel "DJ" Mampusti donning the colors of Malaysian stable Fnatic.
The Chengdu Major boasted a $1 million prize pool (more than P50 million) and a total of 15,000 DPC points, with the tournament winners receiving $300,000 (more than P15 million) and 4,850 points.
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