After 2 consecutive wins against Infused and Darer, Na'Vi was able to win joinDota Masters 2-0 against EG to win the €1000 prize. The Masters took place on August 13th and 14th, with single elimination quarterfinal and semifinal games. The finals were a best out of three. Na'Vi's performance at the tournament showed us all why they are rated number one on the rankings. After recently losing to Potm Bottom, some might have questioned Na'Vi's abilities, however, Na'Vi was able to prove themselves by not losing a single game throughout the tournament. Na'Vi seemed to have regained their element and their infamous teamwork/game-sense that won them the first International.
Tournament Bracket:
Na'Vi's Path:
Na’Vi vs. Darer
Game 1: Na’Vi’s early game execution was perfect. They didn’t try anything crazy and played a really solid early game. They put Enigma (LightofHeaven) in the jungle, who was able to come top and push at around 5 minutes with Sand King (Dendi) who took top against Bounty Hunter. Bounty Hunter was forced to help at Bot lane against a Venomancer and Beastmaster, who were completely wrecking the Tiny-Wisp that Darer put on bot. Wisp seemed pretty useless in the lane, and Tiny would just get slowed to death while running back after using his combo. Na’Vi was able to take control of the game from there, being 14-3 in less than 12 minutes. Venomancer was godlike and most of Darer’s heroes were underfarmed and behind in exp. Na’Vi looked incredible strong towards the mid game. Veno was 12/1/11 and Na’Vi was over 15,000 ahead in gold. Dendi was able to amazing epicenter’s and Puppey had a few clutch black holes in the next 3 team fights. Na’Vi was able to epicenter into Darer’s base at 27 minutes with the final score 40-13 for Na’Vi. Na’Vi played with beautiful synergy this game. In a few cases, Artstyle got out of position with his Venomancer, but it would then seem as if it was all part of the plan as Dendi would Blink, Epicenter, and Burrowstrike himself a double or triple kill while saving Venomancer’s life. Their teamwork and awareness was incredible this game. Na’Vi was able to make smart calls in terms of pushing and synergized incredibly well. This was the kind of Na’Vi I’ve been hoping to see. After this game, it was evident how well their bootcamp paid off. They were playing more as a team than they were before.
Na’Vi vs. EG
Game 1: Na’Vi showed EG why certain heroes are best left banned. EG let Na’Vi take Lycan, Syllabear, and Leshrac as their first 3 picks. The brute force behind all these heroes in terms of pushing potential should’ve given EG a warning. EG’s lineup of Chen, Venomancer, Tidehunter, Brewmaster and Death Prophet focused on the big teamfight and the followup push. EG was able to win the early game in terms of kills with this lineup, however Na’Vi was able to make some big plays with Dendi’s blink dagger Leshrac and LightOfHeaven’s. When the midgame phase rolled around, Na’Vi was able to completely stomp EG. EG’s teamfight strategy seemed light it was enough to do the trick when they’d focus a Roshan teamfight but they wouldn’t be able to finish it off. Na’Vi would be able to pick of the heroes they needed to in the team fight in perfect order. EG’s lack of single target stuns/disables didn’t make matters any better. The only stuns on their team come from Tidehunter’ ultimate (Ravage), Panda’s ultimate (earth panda) and Chen (Centaur or Troll creep). They wouldn’t be able to pick off the Lycan or get any good ganks without over-committing and delaying future team-fights because of ultimate cooldowns. That wasn’t the main problem for EG though, as Na’Vi’s split push was too much for EG to handle. EG would try to 5 man push mid, but by that time, Lycan with Necronomicon and Syllabear would be able to take tier 3 towers and rax. EG let Na’Vi take those big split push heroes at expense of the big team fight heroes, which Na’Vi was more than willing to let happen. I feel as if Maelk could’ve drafted that first game a lot better.
Game 2: EG still let Na’Vi get some split push like the last game with the Broodmother and the Lone Druid pick. EG put its eggs in the Morphling (Fear) basket instead. The early game started off fairly even. Na’Vi saw the Crystal Maiden (Universe) and Morphling combo on the midlane and tried to counter it with Invoker and Lich to limit Morphling’s farm. LightofHeaven’s Broodmother had to go against Bulba’s Sand King on the bot lane. SK is a pretty good counter to Broodmother because of caustic finale which does massive amounts of aoe damage to creeps that are last hit. XBOCT’s Syllabear was able to beat Furion on the top lane and Enigma was able to cycle top for an early tier 1 tower. Na’Vi was able to XBOCT his time to farm his extremely early radiance. They were able to take 5 towers by 17 minutes letting XBOCT get it even earlier. Fear’s Morphling was pressured a lot and wasn’t even able to get his E-Blade within 23 minutes. Ironically, Fear was filled with fear for most of the early game. Na’Vi had such great midgame strength that they were able to take bot rax at 27 minutes with Brood and Sylla. Na’Vi would just be able to brute themselves into EG’s base, and EG only had that Sand King as a form of initiation/damage in those big team fights. If you look at EG’s lineup, they really count on the Morphling and the CK to do their damage. Morphling was underfarmed and Enigma’s Pipe negated a lot of Sand King’s damage. Na’Vi lineup in terms of picks seemed to be far stronger than EG’s regarding the game styles. Na’Vi knew how to play their lineup correctly while EG struggled with theirs. Na’Vi played beautifully while EG put forth a really good effort. There were a lot of clutch ultimates and plays coming from Bulba that game. Both teams played a really great game.
