Talon Esports kept Southeast Asia’s hopes alive in the Lima Major following an epic elimination match with The International 10 champions.

Talon took down Team Spirit 2-1 to secure a top six placement at the Major, along with $25,000 and 200 Dota Pro Circuit points.

It didn’t come easy as well, needing a hard-fought comeback victory in game three to confirm their advance — and a stellar Faceless Void performance from Talon’s position one, Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon.

This is the organization’s first finish in the top half at a Dota Pro Circuit LAN event — the team failed to get past the group stage twice at the Arlington Major and TI11.

23Savage’s risky item decision pays off with an epic Roshan pit battle

23savage made the risky decision to contest the Roshan at full power, instead of saving for buyback. The carry player pivoted from a Refesher Orb — with the recipe already in his inventory — to a full Aeon Disk.

The two teams constantly jostled for position in front of the pit, leaving 23savage as the only person inside the pit. In a sudden burst of initiation, Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov jumped in to use Reverse Polarity on Talon’s carry — swiftly countered by an activated Aeon Disk.

The item proved to be a stroke of genius. Team Spirit was caught completely unawares, and Collapse could only desperately layer an ineffective Refreshed Reverse Polarity to try and take 23savage down.

Instead, the hard carry forced Spirit to commit their Terrorblade and Enchantress, and one Chronosphere was enough to take the two heroes and Roshan down.

23savage picked up the Aegis, and quick thinking led to him dropping his Black King Bar — in his active inventory instead of the backpack — on the ground to make room for the Refresher Shard. This let him avert the backpack cooldown, and he immediately use the item to cast another Chronosphere on Collapse and secure the Magnus kill — who didn’t have buyback.

Talon swiftly marched down the midlane, tearing down Spirit’s defenses with a numerical advantage. Though Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk quickly bought back on his Terrorblade, his second life was quickly taken down by the swarming SEA squad.

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