MegaFon Winter Clash: down into the lower bracket
NAVI loses the winners' finals, dropping down.
The upper bracket finals at MegaFon Winter Clash saw NAVI.GG.BET facing off Team Liquid in a Bo3. The series ended 2:0 for the opponent, as NAVI fall into the lower bracket.
Game 1 - Natus Vincere [0:1] Team Liquid
NAVI.GG.BET
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Crystallize
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Blizzy
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SoNNeikO
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Chuvash
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MagicaL
Team Liquid
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Miracle-
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GH
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KuroKy
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MATUMBAMAN
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Mind_Control
The first game kicked off rather calm at first. KuroKy went for a mid rotation, but SoNNeikO was quick to come by and help MagicaL. Timbersaw had a very good early lane, as Kunkka was unable to do much. Terrorblade, thankfully, still had a decent lane, but so did enemy Phantom Assassin. Team Liquid was really aggressive on the map, while NAVI had to allow the cores to get some more items to come online.
Unfortunately, a few fights put NAVI quite behind. Phantom Assassin had considerably more farm, and therefore, a lot more damage and sustain. Overall, we struggled to find ourselves a good fight. Eventually, we were locked in our base. Crystallize had to go for Monkey King Bar very soon to stand a chance against Phantom Assassin. Even though we lost our bottom T3 tower. Team Liquid went for the Roshan, and NAVI didn't attempt to contest it. Team Liquid went for the final push - despite our best attempts, NAVI had no resources to defend: we lost all heroes while only killing a couple. Game 1 goes the way of Team Liquid.
Game 2 - Natus Vincere [0:2] Team Liquid
Team Liquid
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KuroKy
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GH
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Miracle-
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Mind_Control
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MATUMBAMAN
NAVI.GG.BET
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Blizzy
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SoNNeikO
-
Chuvash
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MagicaL
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Crystallize
The second game saw Timberlane going mid yet again for Team Liquid. The lanes weren't going too well for NAVI except for the top - Slark enjoyed a decent farm; midlane was barely even, as MagicaL had some troubles, especially after rotations. Team Liquid were very aggressive on the map, as Axe got massively shut down, not managing to get anything done, especially without the Blink Dagger.
As the game went on, Team Liquid took over the map very quickly, leaving little to no space for NAVI to farm. All our items were massively delayed, and this allowed Team Liquid to siege our high ground, taking down mid. A little later, the Radiant went for the Roshan, and with the Aegis in their possession, they went for the final push. NAVI threw all they had onto the opponent, but it was nowhere near enough - NAVI lost 4 with no buybacks, as the series goes to the opponent.