TNC Predator sign Bok and Boomy, return to all-Filipino lineup

Filipino organisation TNC Predator announced on Friday (5 March) that they signed former Omega Esports players Jun "Bok" Kanehara and Marvin "Boomy" Rushton to complete their roster ahead of the second season of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC).

Bok and Boomy will be replacing Damien "Kpii" Chok and captain Kim "Febby" Yong-Min, who were both released by TNC on Wednesday (3 March) after the team narrowly missed out on qualifying to the upcoming ONE Esports Singapore Major.

With the addition of two more Filipino players around the team's core trio of Kim "Gabbi" Villafuerte, Armel Paul "Armel" Tabios, and Timothy "Tims" Randrup, TNC will once again be fielding an all-Filipino lineup.

The last time that TNC had an all-Filipino squad was back in The International 9 (TI9) in 2019, when Carlo "Kuku" Palad and Nico "eyyou" Barcelon were still with the team.

Bok will be taking over the offlane position while Boomy will be the team's position 5 support player and captain.

Bok and Boomy have led some of the more successful Filipino squads outside of TNC in recent years. While both players are veterans of the Philippine Dota 2 scene, they started making waves globally in 2019 as the veteran core of Adroit Esports.

Adroit notably represented the Philippines in the Dota 2 category of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games' esports medal event. The team defeated Team Thailand, which included Fnatic's Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong and T1's Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon, to win one of the three gold medals for the Philippines in the event.

In the 2019-2020 DPC, Adroit was able to qualify for the ESL One Los Angeles Major — beating out TNC for a spot in the Major — before the circuit was cancelled by the coronavirus pandemic. However, Adroit was forced to disband its Dota 2 team and cease all operations as an organisation last November due to the continuing effects of the pandemic.

Boomy and the rest of the Adroit roster at the time were then transferred to Omega Esports last December for the 2021 DPC, with Bok joining the team in early January shortly before the qualifiers began.

Omega Esports were able to qualify for the lower division of the DPC's Southeast Asian regional league for their first season, and became one of the two top teams in the division to earn a promotion for the second season.

Omega Esports announced the departures of Bok and Boomy shortly before TNC announced their signing.

"We are excited on what Boomy and Bok has to share with our team in terms of game strategy and playstyle. Now that our roster is yet again complete, we are ready to claim our rightful spot in SEA competitive scene," TNC said in a statement.

Since TNC won't be participating in the Singapore Major, which is scheduled from 27 March to 4 April, their return to DPC competition with Bok and Boomy in the lineup will be in the second season of the 2021 DPC in mid-April.

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