Neon Esports came back roaring from a series opening loss to stomp on T1, 2-1, in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC)-Southeast Asia Upper Division tiebreaker for the Singapore Major group stage spot on Saturday night, Feb. 27.

With its back against the wall after the Video game 1 defeat, Neon went to the deadly duo of 10K MMR midlaner Erin Jasper “Yopaj” Ferrer’s Void Spirit and 11K MMR carry John Anthony “Natsumi-” Vargas’ Io to score a 40-13 victory in 47 minutes in Video game 2.

Yopaj slashed his way to 20 kills and 14 assists versus 4 deaths while Natsumi finished with 10 kills and 18 assists with only a single death.

Neon then unleashed a “dual carry” lineup in the winner-take-all Game 3 featuring the Razor of Natsumi and Wraith King of Andrei “debil_2000” Ong (likewise referred to as “Skem”), who played as the offlaner in this vital series.

Yopaj’s Queen of Pain, position-4 assistance Prieme “PlayHard” Maque’s Lina and position-5 Jaunuel “Jaunuel” Arcilla’s Disruptor were equally excellent as Neon showed its signature aggression to eliminate T1, 36-8, in 43 minutes.

With the come-from-behind series win, Neon clinched a spot in the group stage of the first Dota 2 Major tournament of 2021 which will be hosted by ONE Esports and PGL on March 27 to April 4.

T1, which struggled with a not likely dull efficiency by veteran Filipino offlaner Carlo “Kuku” Palad, opted for a seat in the Significant wild card stage where it is set to face the TI7 winning group Nigma (formerly Group Liquid) and potentially the two-time TI champion OG.

Kuku went on a combined record of absolutely no kills and 26 deaths in Games 2 and 3. He was 0-16 on his Venomancer in the 2nd game and 0-10 on his Legion Commander in the do-or-die video game.

T1 was not able to replicate its 2-1 stunner over Neon last Thursday, Feb. 25 which protected them a spot in the Major and forced the best-of-three tiebreaker.

Fnatic currently bagged the leading area that guarantees a ticket to the Major playoffs after generating a 6-1 record.

Filipino powerhouse TNC Predator (4-3), the last SEA team to win a Major, lost out on the SG tourney however stayed in the Upper Department for next season however.