MDL Changsha Major Qualifiers: the loss vs slozhniy memas

To the first round.

The next opponent of NAVI.GG.BET at MDL Changsha Major qualifiers in the group stage was slozhniy memas yet again. The Bo3 wen the way of slozhniy memas 2:1.

Game 1 - Natus Vincere [0:1] slozhniy memas

The first game started off with a little bit of action, but not many kills. The players settled down in their lanes and did not leave them for too long. GeneRaL had a pretty good lane down at the bottom, while Dendi had a hard time against Razor in the midlane. As we've got a few levels, NAVI became much more active, netting kills around the map.

Around 16 minutes we've held around 1k gold advantage and a few kills up. 20 minutes in NAVI got their hands on the first Aegis, which was soon dropped, as Crystallize overextended in the middle lane. The game settled down, with some fights happening here and there until we've had a good fight and took down mid T3. A couple of mistakes committed by us, though, allowed slozhniy memas to approach our high ground, destroying our own bot T3.

Slowly but surely, slozhniy memas began taking control of the map, eventually taking down another T3. We tried to repel their final base siege, but with most of our heroes dead, we couldn't defend the base. GGWP, as we move to the second map.

Game 2- Natus Vincere [1:1] slozhniy memas

The second game started with a lot less action than the previous one, as there were way less kills by 10 minutes. The lanes, though, were going reasonably well for NAVI, as Crystallize was getting his creeps, as well as Dendi, who was sitting very comfortably in the middle lane. The rotations from Lil were also of great help. The teams attempted the early ganks, and they worked for both teams for the most part.

The cores on both teams were farming up their items and get that needed levels before trying to actively engage. Crystallize enjoyed very good farm on the map and was able to get most of his items on time. 22 minutes in the teams traded their towers and for a while, nothing was happening on the map. However, very soon more items came in for both teams and a lot of fighting started in particular because Roshan was to spawn very soon and both teams wanted to control that point on the map.

We started to get more control around the map, eventually getting up all the way to the enemy high ground and taking down the first tier 3 of theirs that allowed us to destroy their shrines. A few more fights happened and even without having the Aegis of the Immortal we were able to claim the victory over the opponent thanks to a decisive move in the second game, as we are moving to the final deciding map of the series.

Game 3 - Natus Vincere [1:2] slozhniy memas

The third game saw quite a bit of action from the very beginning. All the players were fairly active on the map. GeneRaL had a fairly nice game while the same couldn't really be said about Crystallize, as he did not have the most comfortable lane. A couple of kills his way made it all a bit easier, though, as he caught up in net worth.

The early engagements were not going our way thanks to a good team fight control on the side of the opponent, which transformed into a solid pushing potential. 18 minutes in  slozhniy memas got the first Roshan of the game, improving their position on the map. NAVI tried to push the lanes carefully, but we were not always able to do so.  By the time the Aegis expired the map control was strongly on the side of the Radiant. NAVI decided to farm for some time to catch up to the opponents.

27 minutes in, after a pickoff on Lifestealer, slozhniy memas went for the high ground push - Pugna was busy trying to trade towers, which did not quite work out. A successful kill on Troll Warlord enabled NAVI to take the Aegis for Lifestealer. That stalled the game for a bit, but just as it expired, the Radiant engaged. With 2 heroes dead on the side of the Dire, the opponents attempted to siege top T3, but we managed to repel the push, winning the fight and taking the streak from Death Prophet.

40 minutes in slozhniy memas intercepted our Roshan attempt, killing off 4heroes and taking the Aegis. We had no buybacks available, and wrote GG, losing the series 1:2. NAVI.GG.BET are going to start their way in the first round of the playoffs.