2016 tournament histories of OG and TNC.

The series between the European team OG versus the Filipino team TNC Pro Team during Dota 2's The International 2016 (TI6) is considered one of the greatest upsets in professional Dota 2 history. OG had a decorated history in recent tournaments leading up to TI6 and was the favorite to win, while TNC's only notable achievement in 2016 was qualifying for TI6. OG lost to TNC 0-2.

Major changes that led to TNC's victory were hiring American Dota 2 veteran Jimmy "DeMoN" Ho as the team's captain and Lee "SunBhie" Jeong-jae as the coach shortly before TI6.

The International is Dota 2's world championship. The sixth International, also known as TI6, was held from August 2 until 13, 2016, in Seattle, United States. The tournament had a prize pool of over US$20 million.

The elimination match between OG and TNC was held on August 10, 2016 (PHT).

OG is a European team formed in 2015 by veteran Dota 2 players. The team was founded after TI5 and had won 2 out of 3 major championships in the TI6 season: The Frankfurt Major 2015 and The Manila Major 2016. OG also had Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi as its midlaner, who was invited to the team after reaching the number 1 global MMR ranking in Dota 2. He is also the first person to reach 9,000 MMR.

Leading up to TI6, OG placed 1st in DreamLeague Season 5 and ESL One Frankfurt 2016 and placed second in The Summit 5. In the last four tournaments, OG almost won in every series, only losing to the Chinese team Wings Gaming twice in The Summit 5.

TNC was a Filipino Dota 2 team that produced mediocre results. It was best known in the Philippines simply as the team sponsored by a major internet café chain and being behind Mineski Dota 2, the top Filipino team at the time. TNC participated in various Philippine and SEA tournaments, and its only major achievement during its lifetime was placing 5th-8th during the World Cyber Arena 2015 at Yinchuan, China in December 2015.

On June 16, 2016, TNC announced that American Dota 2 veteran Jimmy "DeMoN" Ho was joining as the team's support and captain. He replaced John Linuel "Teehee" Abanto.^[1] DeMoN is best known as a player from the North American team Evil Geniuses. Compared to Miracle-'s MMR, DeMoN was slightly below 6,000 MMR. He also didn't speak Filipino.

As TNC was not invited to the TI6 SEA qualifiers, the team had to win in the open qualifiers first before winning in the main SEA qualifiers.

After qualifying, TNC also hired Lee "SunBhie" Jeong-jae as its coach for TI6. SunBhie was previously a Dota 2 player for the South Korean team MVP HOT6ix and the captain for the North American team Team Freedom. His TI6 run was his debut as a coach.

By qualifying for TI6, TNC became the first Filipino team to qualify for The Internationals since Mineski's DotA-Allstars team was invited to the first International in 2011.

The 16 qualified teams were divided into 2 groups and played in a round-robin format. The top 4 in each group advanced to the upper bracket of the main event, while the bottom 4 went to the lower bracket. Both OG and TNC were placed in the same group.

OG defeated TNC 2-0 and dominated its group. OG advanced to the upper bracket and was the favorite to win in TI6. TNC, on the other hand, was on the bottom 4 and was dropped to the lower bracket.

In the lower bracket, TNC won 1-0 against VG.Reborn, a Chinese team and the worst-performing team during the group stages.

In the upper bracket, OG lost 1-2 against MVP Phoenix, a South Korean team. While the series itself was an upset, MVP Phoenix had respectable achievements leading up to TI6 compared to TNC. The loss placed OG in the lower bracket against TNC in a best-of-three.

Given that OG defeated TNC during the group stages, and the histories of both teams, TNC was considered a massive underdog. At the end of the series, however, OG lost to TNC 0-2 and was eliminated from the tournament.

The series is widely considered to be one of the greatest upsets in professional Dota 2. Thousands of players lost high-value items through third-party match betting as the betting odds were heavily stacked against TNC.

TNC would lose the next series against American team Digital Chaos and exit the tournament placing 7-8th and bringing home US$519,262. However, their run was solidified in Dota 2 history as a memorable underdog story.

Wings Gaming, a Chinese team that TNC beat 2-0 during the group stages, would eventually become the TI6 champion.

• theScore esports produced the mini-documentary about the topic entitled "ICONIC Esports Moments: The Miracle of TI6 - TnC vs. OG (Dota 2)".

1. Jimmy “DeMoN” Ho will play for TNC during the TI6 Qualifiers. June 16, 2016. TNC Pro Team. TNC Pro Team website. Retrieved on 2025-01-30.