MegaFon Winter Clash: afterword
Mag: «The main goal for the team at the moment is to acquire a slot for the next Major tournament.»
The MegaFon Winter Clash tournament, with a prize pool of $ 300,000 came to its conclusion. In this article, we summarize the results of the championship together with 
Andrii «Mag» Chipenko.
The Crocus Expo center hosted an esports competition from December 7 to 9: on the first day, groups were played behind the closed doors, and on the remaining two days all participants played on the big stage in front of the fans. A big thank you should be said to the viewers who supported the NAVI.GG.BET players, regardless of what happened on the battlefield.
As for the competition component, the “yellow-blacks” became the winners of Group A, despite the fact that each team had one victory. Game score intervened the case, which favored our guys: as a result, 
Virtus.pro and 
Team Secret had to go to the lower bracket of the playoffs, and NAVI ended up in the upper bracket.
The first rival of our team at this stage was the champions of The International 2017 — Team Liquid. The team, who essentially skipped the start of the season, now got into a great shape and are incredibly hungry for the victory. Our guys have failed to cope with such an experienced opponent, losing with the score 0:2 and so they went to the lower bracket finals awaiting their opponent.
The opponent was — 
PSG.LGD the runner-up of The International 2018. The Chinese team beat Team Secret in an extremely tense fight, so the majority of viewers referred them as the favorites. However, our guys did not agree with this statement, they properly prepared for such a serious competitor. 2:0 — an extremely confident and much-needed victory for the “yellow-blacks”, which allowed the team to reach the grand finals of the tournament.
In the finals, NAVI had to face Team Liquid once again. who also had an advantage in the form of one win due to the victory in the upper bracket finals. Alas, despite all the efforts, our guys failed to defeat such high-class team. 0:3 — an unfortunate defeat, which, however, gave the "yellow-blacks" a great experience necessary to play at a similar level.
We talked with the coach of the NAVI.GG.BET, Andrii «Mag» Chipenko, who summed up the performance at the recent MegaFon Winter Clash tournament.
— What can you say about the performance of the team at the tournament? Are you satisfied with the final result?
Andrii “Mag” ChipenkoWe have played with almost all the best teams in the world at the moment. And if people could call our victory over Virtus.pro an accident, then no one could disprove the victory over PSG.LGD. It was a great experience for the team and the result is more than satisfactory.
— The advantage of one game for the team, which advanced through the upper bracket — is that fair? Will this format be again popular in the upcoming championships?
Mag: This is an unusual format for most tournaments. For tournaments with Dota Pro Circuit points, I think this is unacceptable, but I see nothing wrong with this kind of tournament. The main problem is that if you lose the first game, the score becomes 2:0, and from such situation it becomes almost impossible to make a comeback in the series.
— You had a chance to play in a tournament against teams of very high level. How do you rate your game against these teams? Which of the opponents surprised the most?
Mag: We were able to prove to ourselves and everyone else that we can compete with tier-1 teams and can even beat them. This is definitely a boost for the team, but we still have a lot of work to do. Most surprised by Team Liquid. It is worth noting that their game against us in the final of the winners' bracket gave us a push to change our draft and strategies one day before the game with PSG.LGD.
After 15–20 minute games with Team Liquid, we realized that we are not keeping up with the pace and should adjust our draft so that we could impose our own pace for the game, strengthen the laning stage. This helped us win against PSG.LGD and meet Team Liquid again in the grand final. In the future, we'll need to expand the hero pool, practice new strategies.
— For the second time, Meepo has become an insurmountable obstacle for the team. Is this hero really that strong in the current meta, or you have failed to properly act against it?
Mag: Meepo is strong. Especially on the last pick, and if the team knows how to use it. Specifically, in that game he was good, but I can not say that we used the maximum of our capabilities. Not every day you play against Omniknight, Keeper of the Light, Meepo, Huskar on the same team. The players did not fully understand the features and mechanics of the Omniknight's second spell and what we learned during the game surprised us. And our Monkey King pick after Keeper of the Light was completely unjustified, as it turned out later. Keeper of the Light with its new ultimate breaks all the trees in the huge AOE.
— What plans does team have for the near future? To rest or practice before the upcoming qualifications?
Mag: I think we will continue to practice, gradually developing new strategies. The team also needs a rest, we still have a lot of time before the next qualifiers for the Major. The main goal for the team at the moment is to acquire a slot for the next Major tournament.
We are sure that the guys will squeeze the maximum out of the obtained tournament experience and will become even stronger. Now, the players of Natus Vincere are taking a break, to be well rested for the next training period and get ready for the upcoming qualifications of different tournaments! #NAVINATION
