SLi Invitational Season 5: a tough start

A tough start

The first opponent of NAVI.GG.BET in the group A was Fnatic in a Bo3 match. The games ended with the score 1:2 after an incredibly back-and-forth decider map.

Game 1 - Natus Vincere [1:0] Fnatic

The first game started off rather quietly - after the First Blood was shed 2 minutes in, there were no kills for 6 minutes straight. A few ganks and rotations were coming in from both teams, but no kills were to be had until 8 minutes in. Fnatic were more successful in getting more kills, as we soon found ourselves at pretty massive kill disadvantage.

Despite that, the Radiant advantage was still rather small, never exceeding 3-4k gold. As we've got a few items for our Lifestealer and Lina, NAVI started feeling more comfortable, taking the fights and forcing the opponent to react. 24 minutes in Fnatic took the first Roshan of the game, with the Aegis for Kunkka. A fight that happened soon after, though, saw Aegis drop.

We decided to wait for the second Roshan and successfully took it, without Fnatic interfering at all - Aegis went to Dendi. The opponents did not want to fight into the Aegis and Cheese, instead preferring to hold off the aggression for a while. However, we had exact opposite plans, trying to get as many kills and towers as we could. Soon we approached the high ground and tried to take down the first T3 of the game. After a fight, we had to retreat back to safety and get a few more items.

The tempo of the game shifted to occasional fights and split pushes, and broke ahead in terms of net worth, forcing out multiple buybacks all the time. At this point, the game stalled greatly. Both teams had money for buybacks, and were fully slotted, waiting for a mistake to catch out the opponent. 75 minutes in that mistake was committed by Fnatic - all 5 dead, and Rapier dropped by Kunkka.

Lina picked up the Rapier, and the Radiant had to commit a mass buyback to avoid being destroyed without contest. That was of little help, though, as a Roshpit fight only a couple of minutes after saw 4 heroes dead yet again - this time there were no buybacks to save the base. GGWP, as we close out the game 77 minutes in.

Game 2 - Natus Vincere [1:1] Fnatic

The second game started quite similarly to the first one, but NAVI decided to push aggressively in the bottom lane - the T1 tower fell around 5 minutes in, limiting the space available for Terrorblade. We've followed the suit, opting to take down towers - even if we lost a couple of heroes in the process. Around 15 minutes in, Natus Vincere were 5 kills down, but the map situation was still stable.

After a couple of pickoffs, Fnatic went for the first Roshan of the game, taking it without being contested from NAVI. With the Aegis on Storm Spirit, we decided to wait for a while and push the lanes, minimizing the fights. That was not always the case, though, as Fnatic were going full aggressive.

After a fight in the bottom lane saw most of Natus Vincere dead, the Radiant went for another Roshan, claiming it successfully. This time, the Aegis went to Terrorblade, and with a couple of good fights, Fnatic was able to take down the T3 in the midlane and a barrack, losing only a couple of heroes and the Aegis in return. The game was becoming very hard for us.

Fnatic were using their Terrorblade and Storm Spirit very well to deny NAVI the chances to defend the T3 towers - even though Dendi was spamming his rockets, they could only do so much, as there were BKBs, a Lotus Orb and a Linken's Sphere to protect everyone. A little after that, the opponents went for a fountain dive, but the Hex from us stopped Storm from getting out alive. It seemed like NAVI had a chance to come back, but Storm was only out of the fight for 15 seconds, and the Refresher Shard on Terrorblade sealed the deal - Mega Creeps, 1-1.

Game 3 - Natus Vincere [1:2] Fnatic

The third game saw a lot of action in the bottom lane right away - Natus Vincere pressured Medusa very hard, attempting to limit her farm. We succeeded in doing so, as even a trilane was unable to save her from our heroes. Other lanes were going rather evenly for us, with both core heroes well in their respective lanes.

By 15 minutes we were 3 kills up and 2k net worth advantage. NAVI was going for a fast-paced game, taking down towers as soon as possible. With a few initiation items coming up, we were able to take down even the most slippery heroes, like Puck. A fight in the middle lane showed that it was hard for Fnatic to disengage fast.

After taking Roshan, Natus Vincere decided to go for the enemy highground. A few repeated pushes baited out several important ultimates, but breaking the defences was very hard - Medusa had all the means to defend. GeneRaL eventually lost the Aegis, but that did not make us abandon the pressure. We still needed some items, though, so we had to calm down a bit, only getting eventual pickoffs.

25 minutes in we've gotten the second Roshan of the game. It was only then that Natus Vincere managed to take down the first T3, as Fnatic was distracted by Dark Willow. Having fulfilled that task, the Dire disengaged, looking to get another round of items, and possibly the third Roshan with the Refresher Shard. The fight eventually happened near the Roshpit - even though Fnatic made all the effort to secure the Roshan. but it was not meant to be - the Radiant got the Aegis and Cheese, only to use both right away, while Lil took the Shard.

By then, the game was already going for more than 50 minutes. 56-58 minutes in, though, a string of rather unfortunate pickoffs allowed Fnatic to make their situation a bit more solid, as they've almost leveled the playfield. Double Damage rune for Medusa, though, allowed the opponent to go for a decisive gank - 3 dead, with eventually only Crystallize alive, allowed Fnatic to finish the game - 1:2.