Reshuffle Madness: NAVI leave the tournament
A tough series
NAVI.GG.BET fought with Team Empire in a Bo3 matchup in the lower bracket of Reshuffle Madness. After 3 games, NAVI lost the series 1:2, leaving the tournament.
Game 1 - Natus Vincere [0:1] Team Empire
NAVI.GG.BET
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SoNNeikO
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Crystallize
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Chuvash
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MagicaL
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Blizzy
Team Empire
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Miposhka
-
Sayuw
-
Maden
-
Chappie
-
Cooman
The first game saw NAVI go for a rather well-rounded draft. Teams were not going on the offensive just yet, preferring to harass each other. For a while, Empire were leading the charge, as we didn't have as good aggression just yet, a few levels and some net worth behind. 15 minutes in, the teams had a first full-blown fight - NAVI lost 4, while Empire only 2. SoNNeikO was trying to play a split-push game, but he was alone, and the efforts were rather weak.
By 20 minutes NAVI were 15k gold behind, and pickoffs on Winter Wyvern and Axe allowed Empire to take the first T3 in the game. We didn't stand much chance in head-on collisions, so we preferred to go for the towers - while we were successful in taking some objectives, Empire were fast to react overall. We approached the Dire base a few times, but didn't manage to take down a tower still.
Soon, Empire decided to go for Roshan; we tried to contest it, but the attempt wasn't successful - Aegis goes to the opponent 30 minutes in. With that secured, Empire went for the decisive push - the game 1 goes to them!
Game 2 - Natus Vincere [1:1] Team Empire
NAVI.GG.BET
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Chuvash
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SoNNeikO
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Crystallize
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MagicaL
-
Blizzy
Team Empire
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Sayuw
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Hero 2
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Maden
-
Chappie
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Cooman
The next game had MagicaL lane versus a duo mid - despite having a rough beginning, TA later started getting some farm. Other lanes were going reasonably well - enemy DK in the top lane suffered quite a bit. NAVI had a good pickoff potential thanks to good levels. Not all heroes were active, though.
By 15 minutes, a fight broke out - Crystallize scored a triple kill, while MagicaL finally got his hands on the Desolator. That allowed us to pick up a much more aggressive tempo, taking fights much more effectively. By 20 minutes, NAVI were sitting on roughly 10k gold advantage, and it wasn't shrinking at all. Around 26 minutes, Empire lost all their T2s, while 27 minutes in, NAVI almost took down T3 in mid.
A long fight broke out in the middle lane a little after - NAVI destroyed the barracks and killed off many Dire heroes. We shifted to the top lane, taking the tower there as well, and securing the game, as we move to the third, decider map.
Game 3 - Natus Vincere [1:2] Team Empire
NAVI.GG.BET
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MagicaL
-
Blizzy
-
SoNNeikO
-
Crystallize
-
Chuvash
Team Empire
-
Maden
-
Sayuw
-
Cooman
-
Miposhka
-
Chappie
The final game started off evenly in all lanes - all heroes were damaging each other, but the final blows were not always dealt. Crystallize, though not getting too many last hits, was still doing quite well. Teams traded a few kills as they got some levels on core heroes, and by 10 minutes, Empire secured 4k gold advantage. However, it was soon decreased to 2k, as NAVI ambushed midlane successfully, killing both Templar Assassin and Phoenix. After that, NAVI cores mostly retreated back, getting some items online, while Batrider was creating a lot of space on the map.
By 16 minutes, Empire secured a 6k gold advantage, without having lost a T1 yet. On the other hand, we were 1 T1 down and lost T1 in mid fairly soon. We decided to go for split-push game. Empire used that to get the first Roshan of the game, and then immediately TPed bot to defend the T2 tower. With the Aegis in hand, the Radiant went for the high ground push. They took down T3 successfully and started to take the barracks, and we had to use 3 buybacks to stop them.
Top 3 was taken entirely by Team Empire, as our cores struggled to farm on the available map space. Skirmishes continued to pop up around the map, and one of them resulted in our mid tower and barracks down - we had to hold on to the top lane for a chance to keep ourselves in the game. 30 minutes in, NAVI went for the Roshan, but Empire intercepted timely, killing the Roshan and giving the Aegis to TA. That Aegis was popped soon - the opponents retreated to regroup. Our team used a few buybacks in the subsequent fight, but we held on to the last T3.
We were locked in our base for quite a long time. Empire kept trying to pry our last lane, but NAVI held on to it with whatever they had. However, this couldn't go on forever, as 1 final attempt by Empire secured them that lane as well - Mega Creeps. However, they barely had time to reach the base, as the Radiant went for the last attack, finishing off all our heroes - GGWP.