Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. TnC shocked the world-wide DOTA 2 community, upsetting OG 2-0. Their message reverberates across the globe and that message is this: We are here to win!
Game One:
OG wasted little time revealing their strategy, first picking Drow Ranger into a middle Medusa and off lane Faceless Void later in the draft to counter initiate any gank attempts on their fragile carry. TnC Gaming drafted a Lifestealer to compliment an Axe bomb strategy to close the gap against the Drow lineup.
The laning phase was essentially a push in terms of kills, but a clever first blood by Nico ‘Eyyou’ Barcelon with Elder Titan on a Witch Doctor attempting to deny himself to a creep camp was a solid start for TnC. The kill score was balanced but OG walked away from the laning phase with a clear advantage in multiple lanes. The push then came online for OG’s Drow Strategy taking all tier one towers just after 10 minutes. TnC kept up the aggression finding several kills early on. OG’s response appeared to be split push and buy time for Medusa to find farm.
After 13 minutes both teams smoked around the Roshan pit, circling around each other. The Axe bomb initiation caught out Johan ‘N0tail’ Sundstein as he was the first to fall on Drow, and then it was downhill from there as only Medusa and Faceless Void made it out alive. TnC kept finding the perfect angle on OG, but a fight near the Roshan pit became a disaster as they failed their Axe Blink-Call resulting in a lost team fight and aegis going OG’s way. The blunder created a trend for TnC as they began losing more heroes and consequently more towers.
Just when you thought TnC was on the verge of losing control of the game, the renowned aggression of the team resurfaced after 27 minutes in an epic fight for the SEA squad. Clutch Axe calls by Sam ‘Sam H’ Hidalgo devastated the OG heroes as four fell. In an attempt to bounce back OG made a bee-line towards the Roshan pit after respawning. They grabbed the kill and aegis, but yet another Axe bomb combo made quick work of the heroes in the pit and another four OG heroes were sent to the grave. TnC officially perfected the art of positioning in a clash in the top lane at 35 minutes which features yet another Axe bomb. Marc ‘Raven’ Fausto tore through the OG heroes on Lifestealer and another four OG heroes bit the dust. They claimed multiple tier two and three towers demonstrating efficient, objective gaming as both teams were now in a position to take high ground following one solid fight.
Both teams were running circles around one another at the Roshan pit, feeling out the situation. TnC found their angle and jumped with another clutch Axe Berserker’s Call laying waste to four OG heroes and Roshan at 46 minutes. After forcing out buybacks, TnC called off their push seeking to strangle OG out of the game. Returning shortly after, a slow siege cleared OG’s top lane of barracks and TnC set their sights on the final lane. After grabbing the final tier three tower, aegis timed out and with it, the push.
At 54 minutes, TnC forced themselves upon OG, running through the Drow Ranger lineup and the final lane of barracks. With that, OG called ‘GG’ and TnC was well on their way to knocking out OG from TI6.
Game Two:
Roles were swapped beginning in the game two draft. TnC adopted the Drow Ranger strategy accompanied by a formidable Vengeful Spirit aura. The Tiny-Io combo returned from the dead with OG selecting the two heroes as a means to reach the Drow Ranger. With an abundance of magic damage on the OG lineup, TnC last picked Huskar.
OG displayed high aggression headed by Tal ‘Fly’ Aizik on Ogre Magi to slow down the push timing of the Drow Ranger lineup. OG essentially won all three lanes and the cores of TnC began falling behind. At 13 minutes a smoked OG squad tiptoed towards the TnC push on the top lane and after tossing the Drow Ranger back and killing the hero, OG killed four. With the game slipping away from TnC, they snatched the aegis but OG took a fight outside the pit, in the Radiant jungle, eradicating the aegis and three heroes.
OG became a bit over-eager and attempted to kill the Huskar under the middle tier two tower but TnC was prepared. Three OG heroes hit the ground. Attempting to make up for the loss, OG engaged in another fight in the Radiant jungle but they were foiled once again losing all heroes except the David ‘MoonMeander’ Tan Dark Seer. TnC was officially allowed back into the game.
At 25 minutes TnC claimed their second aegis of the immortal and were now in the driver’s seat. However, nothing came from the pickup and the aegis was reclaimed. TnC began falling victim to split push, consistently being outmaneuvered.
While TnC was picking off Ember Spirit, OG was grabbing Roshan, but a series of pick offs allowed TnC to walk up high ground. OG responded with a giant vacuum-wall combo and buybacks to follow up. They managed to repel TnC, but several heroes on both sides went down. After a thrilling couple of minutes of DOTA both teams settled down due to lack of buybacks. Both teams began playing a game of chicken trading a lane of barracks each before calling it quits.
At 50 minutes OG claimed their second aegis of the immortal. OG kept the lanes pushed out, but a skirmish brought the Tiny down with a huge Chronosphere, forcing a buyback from N0tail. At 59 minutes TnC ‘yolo’ marched down middle lane. Huskar opened on Io dropping the hero and Sam H jumped to the occasion hitting the biggest Chronosphere of his life, capturing the Tiny and bringing him down. Amer ‘Miracle-' Barqawi was the next to fall and OG called it.
OG are officially eliminated from The International 2016 on the back of two upset losses. TnC’s epic run through this year’s International lives on, leaving many analysts and players speechless after this recent victory. The DOTA community sits on the edge of their seats in anticipation of future series going forward with this TnC squad after one of the most colossal upsets of the tournament.
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