Fnatic Is One Victory Away from The International 10

At the start of the SEA Qualifier for The International 10, the battle looked fierce. All of the top contestants were going to face strong opposition from at least two teams. Fnatic’s main rivals were TNC Predator and Neon. And they ended up playing against both in the Upper Bracket.

TI 10 SEA Qualifier Partial Results

The tournament featured 15 teams. Eight of them started in the Upper Bracket and seven in the Lower Bracket. So far, the Upper Bracket had no real upsets. In the first round, TNC won against MidOne’s team, SMG. BOOM Esports defeated Execration. Fnatic beat Omega. And Neon triumphed over Motivate.Trust. The matches were not easy and 3 of them needed 3 games to conclude.

In the second round of the Upper Bracket, TNC defeated BOOM (2 – 1) while Fnatic managed to beat Neon after a very difficult series that ended with a score of 2 – 1.

The Upper Bracket Final was expected to be a tough match for both teams. Fnatic and TNC had met each other many times in the most important matches of regional events. This was just another episode of the series and most people expected TNC to win.

Game 1 needed 59 minutes to conclude. Eventually, Fnatic won with their Luna pick, even though TNC’s draft looked stronger in the late game. Game 2 needed 71 minutes to end, which is a testament to how difficult the battle was. Once again, Fnatic’s carry (Arc Warden) proved to be better than TNC’s (Terrorblade).

Lower Bracket Results

In the Lower Bracket, BOOM Esports proved to be the strongest team up until this point. But in their next match they will face TNC Predator, an opponent they already lost against in this tournament. However, given the fact that the match ended with a score of 2 – 1 and that the 3 games lasted 66, 46, and 75 minutes respectively, I think that anyone can win.

Predictions

Even though it might seem that Fnatic has already won the race, the truth is that any of these 3 teams can triumph. Of course, it would be shocking to see BOOM beat both TNC and Fnatic, but in theory it could happen.

If Fnatic qualifies for The International 10, this would be a huge result for the club but I think they’ll have to apologize to Jabz for what happened in September last year. As you probably know, he pretty much got kicked from the team and replaced with a player who screwed up badly. Just one month later, he was invited to rejoin and even though he failed to get a direct invitation to TI 10, he can still qualify by winning the Grand Final of the qualifier.

 

Photo credit: Valve