The featured image’s Terrorblade art may be found at: https://imgur.com/qK0buqc

The final stretch of DPC matches before the start of the LCQ for The International 11 has begun as Tour 3 of the 2021–2022 SEA Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) is well under way. T1 vs. SMG, one of the thrilling games from the previous week, June 22, will be the subject of our discussion today. Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte Santos’ Terrorblade was chosen by T1 for all three games. His performance in the second and third games, which helped T1 accomplish the comeback victory, improved after a lackluster first game performance.

Image taken from the T1 official Facebook page.

Stretching his wings

In the second round of the draft for Game 1, T1 selected a Terrorblade while SMG chose a more aggressive starting lineup. Karl Matthew “Karl” Baldovino’s iconic Puck was pitted against an intriguing Keeper of the Light selection from Kam Boon “MooN” Seng in the middle lane.

SMG scored a four-man first blood early in the first game on Gabbi’s Terrorblade on the bottom lane. Then Ryan Jay “Raging Potato” Qui’s Razor began to harass Gabbi relentlessly in an effort to make his life miserable while delaying T1’s timing for the win condition. The Marci of Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon made vain attempts to stop the bleeding by counter-poking and counter-engaging the enemy offlaner.

T1’s towers fell early in the game as a result of their inability to adequately respond to SMG’s kill pressure. After a few skirmishes and a takedown by Roshan, SMG was able to take out bottom barracks at the 20-minute mark, and they went on to win the series’ opening round by securing the first blood. It did not seem to be a particularly good Terrorblade game.

Taking to the skies

A different tale emerged in Game 2, with Gabbi once more using Terrorblade in the bottom lane for T1. Both teams were on the edge of their seats the entire time, and the pace of the game was slower than usual. Since he had more time to farm out his equipment and perfect his timing, Gabbi found the slower game pace to be advantageous.

Despite the slower tempo, Yeik Nai “MidOne” Zheng’s Monkey King in the safelane on the Dire side had a significant early farm lead and picked up his Battlefury faster than anticipated. However, Gabbi’s Terrorblade was able to carry T1 in the middle and late games, minimizing the impact and pressure of an early-farmed Monkey King. This was made possible by her substantial net worth.

T1 won game 2 to tie the series thanks to a late-game snowball by them and Gabbi’s Terrorblade’s near-invincibility.

Blowing out the opposition

Coming into game 3, T1 was once again in the lead thanks to Gabbi’s Terrorblade, with the rest of the composition concentrating on giving Terrorblade room to farm safely and scale well into the middle to late game. SMG, on the other hand, concentrated on a line-up that was more engage-heavy and aimed to reduce Gabbi’s safe area to farm.

Game 3 was also a slow-moving contest since T1 was awaiting Gabbi’s item timing. Carlo “Kuku” Palad’s presence and pressure in the top lane prevented MidOne from having the same farm freedom as in the previous game, forcing him to play cautiously and conservatively throughout the laning phase. As someone who is a safelane Ember Spirit, you would not often perform something like this.

Unsurprisingly, T1 won a large team battle on the Dire side’s Outpost, eliminating the majority of SMG and leaving T1 with a 9,000 gold advantage and a topside barracks takedown. As a result, T1 boldly took the initiative and swiftly destroyed SMG in another team battle that took place in the Dire side jungle. Two of SMG’s cores are destroyed in this decisive battle, rendering them defenseless against T1’s pushing skills and bringing the series to a stunning conclusion. In the SEA DPC standings as a result of this outcome, T1 is currently in fifth place with a record of 2 to 1, while SMG is in sixth place with a record of 1 to 3.

In the post-match interview, T1, unfortunately, made no mention of the consecutive Terrorblade picks, but one may infer that this was done to isolate SMG and sabotage their early team fight-focused playstyle. Terrorblade’s presence in the safe lane forced SMG to gank and maintain pressure on the opponent safelaner consistently, allowing middle and offlane to scale safely into their gear. When that occurs, Terrorblade is granted space by middle and offlane playing on their side of the map, allowing Gabbi to gather his goods and become the unstoppable terror that he is.