Filipino team, TNC Predator, faced off against American squad, Newbee, on Day 2 of The International 9 Group Stage.

Game one started slow with both teams playing cautiously through the laning phase, and neither team able to gain a significant advantage.

In the mid game however, Newbee slowly started taking control of the map, climbing to a 17,000 gold lead by the 35-minute mark.

TNC’s few attempts at contesting ended poorly, and they ended up taking some one-for-two trades.

Eventually, TNC seemed content to sit back and let Newbee’s advantage continue to grow, perhaps hoping that Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte’s Phantom Assassin could win the game for them late.

However, Newbee’s lead was insurmountable and at the 47-minute mark, Newbee got a quick pick on TNC’s Timothy John “Tims” Randrup, then followed it up with a huge Sanity’s Eclipse from Quinn “CCnC” Callahan’s Outworld Devourer that practically one-shot Gabbi and Armel Paul “Armel” Tabios.

Yawar “YawaR” Hassan’s Lifestealer easily cleaned up the rest of TNC and forced the GG.

Game two was a completely different affair, with TNC looking strong from the start, with Armel’s Lina and Gabbi’s Sven getting early level leads, while CCnC’s Ember Spirit struggled early, getting picked off three times.

Newbees woes continued as they tried to take down Roshan, only for Carlo “Kuku” Palad’s Sand King to swoop in at the last second and steal the Aegis from under their noses.

Kuku wasn’t finished however, and hit Newbee with a massive Epicenter as they were trying to escape, letting the rest of TNC finish them off.

Without the Aegis, Newbee’s chances of a comeback looked bleak, and at the 33-minute mark, TNC pushed in, team-wiped Newbee again — killing CCnC another two times for good measure — and finished off the game, tying the series at 1-1.

A terrible game for CCnC saw him die nine times in less than 35 minutes, while Armel and Kuku were able to salvage a draw for TNC after a disappointing game one.

Be sure to check out our coverage of The International 2019 Group Stage for more TI9 action.