DreamLeague S8: We keep fighting!
The Bo3 in the lower bracket against Fnatic ended with a convincing victory by NaVi.
The Bo3 in the lower bracket against 
Fnatic ended with a convincing victory.
Game 1 — Natus Vincere [1:0] Fnatic
Natus Vincere
RodjER
SoNNeikO
Dendi
GeneRaL
Crystallize
Fnatic
DJ
pieliedie
Ohaiyo
Abed
EternaLEnVy
The first game of the series started off rather well for 
NaVi, with the first blood going our way. 
RodjER was doing a lot of work all over the map, securing us a good laning stage, and others followed the suit, capitalizing on the advantage. We kept getting pickoffs, while Fnatic were not always able to get the trades back. 10 minutes in we were sitting at a 2k lead net worth wise. We continued to capitalize on that, finding isolated heroes of Dire and killing them off.
Soon we got Aegis and went towards the enemy base right away, but did not quite manage to break the high ground, as Fnatic had good heroes to defend it. We retreated for a little, farming up some items and healing up, but returned to enemy base soon after, this time breaking the first T3 of the game. 31 minutes in the second Rosh of the game was taken, but alas, the Aegis was immediately lost due to the Winter’s Curse.
The standoff in the middle lane continued, as we could not quite break the enemy defenses, with the barrack still standing. A couple engagement later we demolished enemy T3 top, but Fnatic turned back and killed several members of NaVi, claiming the full top lane after that.
The engagements continued, and now we struggled more to actually win those, losing T3 mid in the process. 50 minutes in the next Roshan was taken, and a huge fight erupted 3 minutes later, with 3 buybacks used on the side of Fnatic. Despite 20k net worth lead, we were still unable to end the game, and the late-game power of the Dire lineup started kicking in.
59 minutes in a fight broke out in the middle lane, and Sniper was taken down without the buyback - this was a key element of high ground defense, and we decided to go straight for the jugular, attacking the Ancient. Gyrocopter was in our base, thus the resources on the side of Fnatic were limited - we take the game 1!
Game 2 - Natus Vincere [1:1] Fnatic
Natus Vincere
RodjER
SoNNeikO
GeneRaL
Dendi
Crystallize
Fnatic
-
Dj
-
pieliedie
-
Ohaiyo
Abed
EternalEnvy
The second game of the series started off well for us again, as the First Blood was taken by Dendi in the middle lane. We did not want to leave Storm Spirit in the middle lane alone and ganked the opponents consistently, ensuring Invoker does not get a very good start.
The ganks continued, and our position on the map solidified, despite the top 2 heroes in the net worth chart being Dire. As the game went on, though, the global presence of Invoker and roaming potential of Earthshaker. As Fnatic picked up several important kills, enemy Bristleback proceeded to take down our mid T3 and both barracks in the middle lane.
30 minutes in we were 15k net worth down compared to Fnatic, and we tried to smoke gank them. However, they were all near our T3 top tower, sieging the base. An unfortunate fight saw most of our heroes dead, and Storm Spirit bought back to try salvaging the situation, but as he was left alone, NaVi had nothing left but to GG out, going to game 3.
Game 3 - Natus Vincere [2:1] Fnatic
Natus Vincere
SoNNeikO
RodjER
GeneRaL
Crystallize
Dendi
Fnatic
-
pieliedie
Abed
Dj
Ohaiyo
EternalEnvy
The final game of the series was off to a rather peaceful start, with little kills happening at the beginning. But as Fnatic tried to go for our bot T1 with Metamorphosis on Terrorblade, several members of NaVi rotated and got 3 kills. As the clock hit 10 minutes, the situation on the map was even, with neither team having a significant advantage over the other.
19 minutes in we had a fight near Roshpit which cost the Dire 4 heroes, and NaVi immediately went for the Roshan, claiming the Aegis for Templar Assassin. As the game somewhat subsided, teams went back to their respective sides to farm for a bit before resuming the aggression.
As Fnatic went for our T2 in the middle lane, NaVi assembled there and fought back, Morphling going Godlike. By 30 minutes, Crystallize was in a very comfortable position, around 21k net worth. 31 minutes in NaVi went for the Roshan, but surprised the opponent with the initiation - Thunder Clap onto three, and the damage to follow up was there - 4 dead.
Having the Aegis and almost the entirety of Fnatic dead, we went to break the highground, and did so easily, destroying top and middle lane completely. A deciding fight happened 34 minutes in - Dendi initiated the fight, evaporating Warlock right away, with Ogre Magi following the suit soon. Fnatic were forced to back off towards their base, but even that did not save them, as they were at a severe disadvantage and called GG - NaVi move on!
