The Main Event of The International 2019 (TI9) is currently underway in Shanghai, China.
As the marquee Dota 2 competition and richest eSports tournament in history, teams from all over the world competed throughout the year to make the cut.
And two of the 16 teams that did are from the Philippines: TNC Predator and Mineski.
While neither Philippine club is favored to win the $33.5 million tournaments, both teams are guaranteed at least $500,000 just for making it to the Big LAN Party.
Still, if either has an upset up their sleeve, it’s likely to be TNC Predator.
Before The International’s Main Event got underway earlier today, major online betting sites had futures odds posted for each team in the field. TNC Predator was in the second tier on the odds boards at +1500, while Mineski was among the biggest tournament longshots at +20000.
On paper, there’s not much difference between the two clubs. TNC Predator is 8th in the Dota 2 world rankings, while Mineski is 10th. However, TNC Predator has won considerably more Dota 2 prize money at nearly $3.2 million, while Mineski has amassed just over $1.5 million.
For comparison, the tournament favorite, 4th-ranked Team Secret (+250), has earned $8.4 million in Dota 2 winnings, while top-ranked PSG.LGD (+350) has amassed over $12.6 million.
At the time of this writing, Mineski’s first match against Natus Vincere (+15000) is underway, while TNC Predator got bounced from the upper bracket earlier in the day, losing two games to one against Vici Gaming (+325).
TNC Predator will face off against Team Liquid (+6600) in a best-of-three elimination series tomorrow (August 21) at 7:00 am EST.
However, even with both Philippine teams now in the lower bracket, they won’t actually play each other unless they both make it to the fifth round. Unfortunately, due to TNC Predator’s upper bracket loss, an all-Philippine Grand Finals is impossible.
You can watch The International live via the official Dota 2 Twitch channel or Steam TV channel. Tagalog is unsupported, but audio broadcasts are available in English, Chinese, and Russian.