EPICENTER XL: victory over VP
A tough and important victory!
Another series of 
NAVI.GG.BET was against 
Virtus.pro. The Bo3 ended with an almost unbelievable victory - 2:1 for us!
Game 1 - Natus Vincere [0:1] Virtus.pro
NAVI.GG.BET
GeneRaL
Lil
LeBron
Dendi
Crystallize
Virtus.pro
RodjER
No[o]ne
9pasha
Solo
RAMZES666
The first game of the series started off with a few kills being traded both ways. NAVI were able to utilize their aggressive heroes to respond effectively to the rotations of Virtus.pro. By 10 minutes, both cores of both teams were able to get their money. Leshrac was able to pick off a few important heroes, allowing us to get towers.
Both teams were looking for as many fights as possible, and not all of them were going as expected - smoke fight at 16 minutes saw 4 players dead on the side of NAVI. Yet just a couple of minutes, Io brought Death Prophet right into the welcoming hands of Chaos Knight - 2 kills for Crystallize. 20 minutes in Virtus.pro took the first Roshan of the game.
Despite the Aegis, Natus Vincere was rather strong, so for the next few minutes not much was happening, save for a few kills both ways. However, at 28 minutes Leshrac almost took down the mid T3, and Virtus.pro responded almost immediately with the rotation back. We decided to start a fight, Doom-ing Death Prophet, but unfortunately, not managing to follow it up. This turned out to be a rather pivotal fight, as NAVI lost all 5 heroes and a tower.
This fight made our position a lot worse. Chaos Knight was rather far behind Troll Warlord. We were falling behind rather fast, and a few fights put us on the back foot. Virtus.pro slowly reclaimed the map control and the T3 towers. Finally, NAVI did not manage to conduct the last fight well, and having no buybacks, conceded the first game.
Game 2 - Natus Vincere [1:1] Virtus.pro
Virtus.pro
Solo
RodjER
9pasha-
RAMZES666
-
No[o]ne
NAVI.GG.BET
-
Lil
-
LeBron
GeneRaL
Crystallize
Dendi
The game 2 started off rather calmly at first, as Lil could not really go on too much offensive, since Crystallize was struggling in the middle lane. The First Blood was spilt by Virtus.pro, but the follow-up kill immediately happened in the top lane. Still, the kills were mostly going the way of Virtus.pro. The fight in the middle lane 9 minutes in, though, saw us reclaim quite a bit of our disadvantage.
As Slark purchased his Shadow Blade, he tried to go for a first gank, which failed, but just a minute later, he still got his due in the midlane fight. Around 18 minutes VP attempted the first Roshan, but NAVI were hanging around, preventing that. Still, an unfortunate fight in the top lane near T2 allowed the Radiant to take a fast Roshan.
The kills kept being traded around the map. However, NAVI was able to get the core kills, while Virtus.pro were mostly taking supports. 30 minutes in the Radiant managed to take the Roshan again, and NAVI had to take more defensive stance, only getting out for a few more kills, waiting for the Aegis to expire. 36 minutes in Virtus.pro engaged aggressively, and we had to respond - 2 heroes lost without buyback, but we kept all lanes.
Troll Warlord was breaking further ahead in terms of net worth. Yet a couple of frags, one being on the core Lina, allowed NAVI to deal significant damage to top T3. After that, though, we had to retreat, and Virtus.pro used that to take the third Roshan. 42 minutes in Ramzes finally managed to take down the first T3 tower of the game, weakening our map control.
As Virtus.pro were retreating, NAVI decided to go on the offensive yet again, killing 2 heroes of the opponent. Eventually, we took down the barracks and a prolonged fight ensued, forcing the buybacks. A few mistakes by Virtus.pro ultimately led to the last Roshan fight, where the core heroes of theirs died very fast with no buyback - we take game 2!
Game 3 - Natus Vincere [2:1] Virtus.pro
NAVI.GG.BET
-
Lil
LeBron
GeneRaL-
Crystallize
Dendi
Virtus.pro
-
RodjER
RAMZES666
Solo-
No[o]ne
-
9pasha
The decider map started off with a standard 2-1-2 lane layout for both teams, but as night settled in, NAVI started playing more carefully due to the presence of Night Stalker. That hero caused quite a bit of trouble for us, as we fell 4 kills behind by the end of the first night. Yet right as it ended, NAVI managed to take a few kills back our way, reclaiming the net worth.
By 12 minutes, the situation on the map stabilized - both teams had 6 kills, and the advantage did not shift anywhere decisively. The towers and heroes were traded; 17 minutes in Virtus.pro went for the top T1, but lost 3 heroes in the process, allowing NAVI to get an uncontested Roshan. The sequence of events continued, as Crystallize kept getting pickoffs.
By 20 minutes NAVI went for a decisive mid fight, resulting in a total team wipe. A few more pickoffs left very little hope. As the main cores of the opponent died, they had no means to defend further, and we take the series 2:1! GGWP.
