TSM force draw with Thunder Awaken in hopes of staying alive at TI11
North American hopefuls TSM are desperately fighting to stay alive at The International 11 (TI11), managing to force a 1-1 draw with surging South American squad Thunder Awaken in the heated final day of the tournament's Group Stage.
Despite being seen as arguably the strongest North American teams in TI11 by virtue of being finalists of the ESL One Stockholm Major, TSM instead became one of the teams that struggled in Singapore.
After Day 3 of the Group Stage, TSM sat at the bottom of Group B with a 4-10 record. They needed to win as many games as they could in Day 4 and hope that other teams lose to still make it to the Main Event.
Meanwhile, Thunder Awaken exceeded expectations and put up a solid 8-6 record by the end of Day 3, which put them in the running for an upper bracket berth.
Thunder Awaken opened the series with a brawl-heavy draft that also had plenty of control headlined by a carry Pudge for Crhistian "Pakazs" Savina.
TSM had a lot of mobility on their lineup, except for Enzo "Timado" O'Connor's Shadow Fiend. It was on all the members of TSM to enable their carry to deal damage.
Another issue for TSM was that most of their stuns were skill shots that could miss, such as Rolling Thunder, Sacred Arrow, and Hookshot.
Thunder Awaken had a small lead at the end of the laning stage, this put the North American team on the defensive and they were unable to find the necessary pickoffs to get back into the game.
TSM snuck a quick Roshan to come back into the game, their draft had armor-shredding abilities which Roshan couldn't withstand.
But even with an Aegis, it wasn't enough for TSM to take a crucial fight at the bottom lane and the North American squad ended up getting teamwiped instead.
It wasn't a death sentence for TSM, though, as Thunder Awaken's aggression backfired and led to the game getting equalised.
However, Pakazs became a huge problem for TSM as they simply lacked the damage to bring him down.
Pudge's ability to both deal immense damage and absorb huge amounts of punishment was in full display at the 32-minute mark. Pakazs charged into the enemy's side and secures a Triple Kill for his team thanks to a great Meat Hook, along with a teamwipe afterward.
It was the Pakazs show as he kept growing stronger and stronger with every kill, ending with a score of 18/1/12. TSM were rightfully wary of the hero and banned him in the second game.
In game two, Thunder Awaken went for an offlane Dawnbreaker and paired it with Farith "Matthew" Puente's Nyx Assasin, one of his standout heroes and a great Dawnbreaker counter. Pakazs' Monkey King along with Jose "Pandaboo" Hernandez's Lich made the bottom lane very difficult for TSM.
The draft from TSM was considerably slower to come online, as the Shadow Fiend was shifted to the mid lane for Jonathan "Bryle" De Guia along with a Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek Venomancer.
David "MoonMeander" Tan's Earthshaker also needed a Blink Dagger or Aghanim's Shard to be effective in team fights. Overall, TSM had their work cut out for them.
Bot lane initially went well for the South Americans, as they had multiple slows and stuns to control a slow-moving hero like Venomancer.
Luckily for TSM, they managed to get a Double Kill to keep them in the game. Things were still heavily in favour of Thunder Awaken, however, as Monkey King almost tripled the Venomancer's last hits.
It was nonstop action in the early game, as Thunder Awaken got a teamwipe just 10 minutes in. TSM's draft wasn't built to fight early, and they needed a way to quell their opponents' aggression.
When the mid game began, Thunder Awaken started to split up, which gave TSM a chance to breathe and farm some crucial items.
This prevented the South American squad from extending their early game lead. A well-timed Fissure from MoonMeander then led to TSM taking their first teamfight victory
TSM slowly took the lead thanks to Bryle's incredible performance.
Realising that Timado's carry Marci wasn't going to scale well into the late game, Bryle had to carry his team as their TI lives hung in the balance.
A crucial fight happened at the 17-minute mark, as all 10 heroes clashed in the top lane. TSM took the fight inside the enemy's Wukong Command and still came out on top, firmly taking control of the game and putting Thunder Awaken on the back foot.
TSM took the second game and equalised the series, keeping their hopes for the Main Event alive. It's now a battle between Entity, Talon Esports, and TSM to escape elimination.
Despite only securing a draw, Thunder Awaken are still looking set to secure an upper bracket berth. It would be the first time in history a team from South America qualifies for the upper bracket of a TI Main Event.
TI11 will be hosted in Singapore from 15 to 30 October and features a revamped format and a longer schedule.
The tournament will begin with a Group Stage from 15 to 18 October, where 20 teams will fight to become among the 16 squads to advance to the Main Event.
TI11's Main Event will be a double-elimination bracket and is split into two phases, the first being held from 20 to 23 October while the second will take place from 29 to 30 October.
For everything you need to know about TI11, check here.
TSM roster:
Enzo "Timado" O'Connor
Jonathan "Bryle" De Guia
Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek
David "MoonMeander" Tan
Kim "DuBu" Doo-young
Thunder Awaken roster:
Christian "Pakazs" Savina
Gonzalo "Darkmago" Herrera
Rafael "Sacred" Yonatan
Farith "Matthew" Puente
Jose "Pandaboo" Padilla
Otomo is a long-time gaming enthusiast and caster. He has been playing games since he was 10 and is the biggest Dota 2 fan.
If you're a fan of Dota 2 both as a game and as an esports title, check out our Dota 2 page. From news to results, to the latest game meta or builds, as well as player interviews, there's something for everyone.
For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page and Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube.
