By Gabriel Pe
All-Filipino DOTA 2 team TNC Predator secured their place at The International 2019 after a guaranteed Top 6 finish at the recently concluded DOTA 2 major for the year.
TNC Predator has earned enough points in the Dota 2 Pro Circuit to earn themselves a direct invite to The International, DOTA’s premier annual tournament.
The Filipinos beat Chinese team Royal Never Give Up Tuesday at the winner brackets of the Epicenter major giving them at least a sixth-place finish at the final event of the season. The team is also guaranteed at least $60,000 or more than PHP 3 million as prize money for this major.
Even with the qualifying win, TNC fell against another Chinese team, Vici Gaming, for the shot at a Top 3 finish. They, however, will continue their tournament run in the major at the lower brackets and will be facing tough European and American squads in the process.
The winner of this major will take home a million dollar in prize money, but a bigger paycheck awaits at The International.
The International is the annual Dota 2 championship sponsored by developer Valve. The event also has the biggest prize pool in esports for a single event reaching more than $25.5 million last year. Currently, the prize pool stands at more than $19.5 million and continues to grow before the event starts in August.