Breaking away from TNC organization, the team that used to take shelter under the organization now only leaves the Tigers name. With the latest management from Static Dream, Tigers hopes to realize TI9’s dream with a roster which is quite surprising to many people.
As is well known, the original formation of the Tigers left only InYourDream, Xepher, and 1437 after the management transition. Immediately, this team recruited regional talents who were no less violent in Ah Jit. Often a rival of IYD in the previous season when defending Clutch Gamers. Now both are working together under the care of 1437.
No less important is the last retainer of the Tigers is MoonMeander. The strong offlaner who helped OG’s first iteration won the Frankfurt Major and the Manila Major. Now he returns to the SEA realm to hope to repeat the nostalgic story in the upcoming Kuala Lumpur Major.
How strong is Tigers roster? Can they compete with local challengers and western champions later? Tigers’ first Roster, although strong but has several weaknesses, especially in the carry and offlane sectors. Both 458 and kYxY often become loopholes that your opponent can exploit.
Although 458 likes to display surprising things with Meepo pick, the reliability of playing ordinary carry shows less consistent performance. He was also less skilled when the 1437 strategy required IYD and 458 to transition lane. Now it’s different from the entry of Ah Jit, who has balance skills with IYD for mid or carry roles. So that the depth of the strategy increases.
While the previous player in offlane, kYxY, likes to prioritize himself with farming. Exceeding carry and mid whenever possible. Seen from the passion of kYxY who likes to play Lycan, Omniknight, and Enigma. Compared to MoonMeander, who tends to be a lane predominator with his aggressive style and can provide space for IYD or Ah Jit to farm freely when he damages the opponent’s lane harmonization as much as possible.
Moon’s presence also presents an alternative playmaker if IYD has difficulty developing. Xepher and 1437 can re-tie their tandem to become the best support pair in SEA. There is not much stock support at SEA, especially those who have creative criteria to play in 4th position, so that Xepher raises the hidden talent of SEA that is still awaiting the opportunity to appear on the big stage.
The leader, 1437, offers strategy and experience, along with the stubborn and aggressive mentality of MoonMeander will drive the potential performance of “new children” in the top DOTA 2 scene.
Then what about their opponents in SEA? Fnatic and Mineski were struck with a fairly hard roster change. Mineski lost important retainer like Iceiceice and Ninjaboogie, while Fnatic had to volunteer the American / Canadian trio and only left DJ and Abed to defend the black yellow team.
Meanwhile, TNC is only the most ready to welcome the new season by bringing Ninjaboogie and Gabbi to replace the previous loyal carry, Raven. But Raven didn’t go all the way because he would join Ohaiyo who was tired of looking for a sponsored team and finally decided to go independent with Team Lotac. TNC could be the toughest rival of Tigers this season considering the rivals of competition among players among them who had felt they were in both teams.
One thing is certain, competition in SEA will be increasingly fierce with the arrival of new outside players, so that it has implications for the development of competition levels in Southeast Asia.
