TSM continue their NA region domination by securing a close series with the NA top dogs QC, with MoonMeander orchestrating from behind the scenes!
The winners final of the NA regionals turned out to be a spicy one today. TSM continued their win streak under their new banner. And although the first two games were close, the third game was pure destruction from TSM. In the post-match interview, MoonMeander talks about the team's struggles to get where they are today.
TSM entered Dota 2 after signing the former Undying team and have already reached the Grand Finals of the first NA Regional DPC. Dota 2 fans also got a glimpse of Fly behind the TSM players, although its not yet confirmed whether he is coaching the squad.
TSM lay down the law
Quincy Crew and TSM have been two of the top teams in the region, both year and last year. When the teams have clashed during this DPC, the results have usually been close. This was reflected in the first two games the teams played. In the first game, both teams were neck and neck, but after some key fights, the TSM squad were able to pull it out and overtake the Quincy efforts.
A similar pattern emerged in the second game, this time with Quincy getting the upper hand. In this game, the team went for more of their comfort heroes like the Luna for Yawar "YawaR" Hassan and the classic Milan "MiLAN" Kozomar Io. It played to their strengths to ramp and get out of control.
It was the third game where TSM really took control. After some non-orthodox picks from Quincy,TSM stuck to the meta with Weaver, Bane, and an insane last pick Broodmother for Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek. It was clear that nothing went right for Quincy in this game. In the immortal words of Shannon "SUNSfan" Scotten, it was a Gaben top hat level schlacking. After destroying all of the lanes, Enzo "Timado" Gianoli O'Connor grew to be the mega raid boss, and TSM rolled over the rest of the game in 20 minutes.
Is Fly coaching TSM?
Moon says "That's just SabeRLight- who got buff". Should we believe him?
One interesting thing that came out of the matches was a glimpse at who may be the new coach of TSM. After the game, it looked as if Tal "Fly" Aizik, former EG and Talon captain, was congratulating all of the players. Furthermore, some people have noticed Fly hanging out in the background during some of Timado's streams.
Nothing is confirmed yet however, and during the post-match interview, David "MoonMeander" Tan Boon Yang told talent that this wasn't Fly but SabeRLight-, "who got really buff" recently. Jokes apart, there hasn't been an official confirmation of Fly's position on the team yet, but maybe we might see one after the Regional Finals.
Moon's magnificent management
In the interview, MoonMeander talked about how the team's drafting went. Most of it was to talk about how SabeRLight- often suggests off -meta heroes to play. For instance, in game two, they gave him Brewmaster, which is not a traditional pick in this meta. In other games this was a similar trend, but he often greenlights heroes that his team wants to play.
He also discussed the strategy behind the last pick Brood. To him, the move was specifically to target YaWar. It all depended on whether they would pick him Morphling last, after all, was a "level 30 Morphling." If they hadn't picked Morph, they might have done another last pick. Still Moon thought the real dealbreaker was letting Weaver through. He said, "if your give me Weaver, it's over get em out."
"Now we're here with TSM, it looks like we rolling through everybody but it took a lot to get here" - MoonMeander
Moon told us about how the team prepared behind the scenes. He noted that the fans only see what happens on game day. The fans don't see what happens in scrims and all the work that goes on to get the team looking as good as they do currently. He says it was a long struggle to get where they are now, but it's paid off. TSM are now in the Grand finals of the NA Regional DPC.
A lot of people see the success in all the greatest people in the world, but they don't see behind the scenes. We worked really hard to get here, we failed many times, lost a lot of scrims and everyone stuck together and tried hard. They stuck with me for the past year. We didn't qualify to the Majors but my team stuck together. Now we're here with TSM, it looks like we rolling through everybody but it took a lot to get here.
TSM, formerly Undying has been one of the most consistent teams in the North American region. With the new organization, they have a lot more resources at their disposal and hopefully can make successful run this year. The team's perseverance and their struggle has not definitely not gone unnoticed, but its good to reminded that behind every success lies a lot of unseen struggle that defines the achievement.
And so TSM moves on to the finals of the NA region. Who will their opponent be? Will they be victorious? Stick with us at esports.gg to find out!