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GESC: Thailand qualifiers. The first step!
The first step's done.
The first step to the cherished goal has been made! 
NAVI.GG.BET triumphed over 
Vega Squadron and passed to the next round of the upper bracket at GESC: Thailand qualifiers.
Game 1 - Natus Vincere [0:1] Vega Squadron
NAVI.GG.BET
LeBron
Lil
Crystallize
GeneRaL
Dendi
Vega Squadron
Zayac
Blizzy
CeMaTheSlayeR
Palantimos
Undershock
The first match of the series became very interesting already at the draft stage: Natus Vincere suddenly bet on Leshrac and Timbersaw as the core-heroes, and opponents chose Treant Protector, far from the most popular in the current meta. It is noteworthy that Crystallize (Leshrac) went to the midlane, and Dendi (Timbersaw) got the opportunity to take the easy lane.
The early section of the game turned out to be fairly measured, as the parties focused on the farm and did not show aggression until the enemy Vengeful Spirit came to the aid of the mid hero. As a result of the encounter, Leshrac died, but immediately after the first blood NAVI pulled off a return kill. From then on, the teams acted more dynamically and got involved in skirmishes on different parts of the map. Thanks to GeneRaL, the fights on the top lane were especially good for us.
By the 13th minute Born to Win destroyed the T1 towers and broke ahead by 3k net worth. Nevertheless, the "sharks" risked an attack on the T2 tower of our team, and it turned out to be quite effective. Vega Squadron decided to go for a round 2, but this time NAVI managed to get on an equal exchange. Waiting for the respawn of all the heroes, the "yellow-black" gathered together and took down the T2 tower of the Dire on the top lane.
The rivals managed to reduce the gap to the minimum after two successful battles - they repeatedly focused down, not allowing him to acquire the necessary artifacts. On the 23rd minute, the "sharks" entered the lair of Roshan, and Natus Vincere was unable to prevent opponents from finishing off the beast. With the Aegis of Immortality, the players of Vega Squadron demolished the last tower of our team and switched to T2 on the bottom lane.
At the 30th minute, NAVI made a couple of valuable pickoffs and went on the offensive, but lost Beastmaster in the battle had to give up Roshan. "Sharks" took the initiative again: the team won a key battle and forced players of NAVI to use buybacks to protect the base. Our team still lost the t3 tower, but finished Abaddon off and forced the opponents to retreat.
Vega Squadron, however, did not plan to slow down and continued the assaults. Having regrouped, the opponents broke into the base through the midlane and confidently conducted a fight. The first match ended in favor of the "sharks".
Game 2 - Natus Vincere [1:1] Vega Squadron
Vega Squadron
-
Slayer
-
Blizzy
Undershock
Zayac
Palantimos
NAVI.GG.BET
-
Lil
-
Crystallize
Dendi
GeneRaL
LeBron
In the second game, "yellow-black" decided to get rid of experiments: Dendi (Dragon Knight) went on the middle line, and Crystallize with the support of Lil faced the enemy Abaddon. The first kill on the map was executed by the Born to Win - Vengeful Spirit being the first victim. Our players managed to seize the early advantage due to several pickoffs - 7 minutes in Natus Vincere was ahead of the opponents by 4k gold.
The Born to Win managed to improve their position on the map even further after the "sharks" lost the first towers. At 10 minutes our squad pulled off another excellent fight and took down one more tower. Vega Squadron still caught out Brewmaster, but in a mass fight opponents had nothing to oppose NAVI. The Radiant lost another battle, and Natus Vincere entered the Roshpit. "Sharks" tried to contest it, but failed - "yellow-black" only lost one hero, while Vega Squadron missed four at the end.
Our players focused their attention on the mid T2, leaving no opponents a chance to defend the building. The enemy team, however, earned a solid amount for three kills and won a little time. Note that by that time the net worth advantage of NAVI was about 18k gold. The next goal of ours was to take down the last T2: after dealing with it, the guys went for the high ground. T3 tower and Shrine were destroyed.
Vega Squadron had another suboptimal fight, so the advantage of our team continued to grow rapidly. Without wasting time, Natus Vincere won the battle on the enemy base and went into the decider map!
Game 3 - Natus Vincere [2:1] Vega Squadron
NAVI.GG.BET
-
Crystallize
-
LeBron
GeneRaL
Lil
Dendi
Vega Squadron
CeMaTheSlayeR
Undershock
Zayac
Blizzy
Palantimos
In the decisive game, NAVI opted Magnus - the star of many significant victories. The opponents also picked their signature heroes, for example, Broodmother and Dark Willow. Lifestealer was playing in the midlane, while Dendi (Magnus) successfully confronted the enemy Broodmother. The first kills of the game went the way of the "sharks", however, our players were in the lead by last hits and felt quite comfortable on the lanes.
Despite all the attempts of Natus Vincere to get much-needed frags, the rivals managed to disengage timely and keep the balance on the map. The bottom lane saw a good fight by NAVI: two Dire heroes were finished off. After losing the battle, the opponents went into the NAVI jungle, but did not find a suitable target. Then the guys from Vega Squadron switched attention to the T2 tower and quickly destroyed it.
In response, Born to Win caught the opponent's carry but subsequently lost two key heroes in the enemy territory. Taking advantage of the numerical supremacy, the rivals provided Luna with the Aegis of Immortality. With the Aegis in hand, Vega Squadron was not in a hurry, but they still managed to deal with the top T2 and a couple of NAVI. "Yellow-black" carefully avoided the clashes until 27 minutes: then the guys initiated the massfight and literally rolled over the enemy squad!
The game came to a stall yet again - the teams went on a farming spree. Later, Roshan became the main point of interest for both. The first to enter the lair of the beast turned out to be "sharks", and Natus Vincere simply did not have time to start the battle before the opponents raised the Aegis of Immortality. To distract the opponents, Born to Win attacked the T3 tower in the bottom lane. Back at their base, NAVI promptly got rid of the Aegis, and Vega Squadron did not dare to continue the fight without that extra life.
"Yellow-black" went on the offensive and made a series of important pickoffs, including the Broodmother right after a buyback. The mistakes were very costly for the opponents, as they lost the buildings on 2 lanes. In the fight for the last side, the opponents finally managed to bring down Lifestealer, but this did little to turn the tides of the game. Natus Vincere brought the started to the finish and beat Vega Squadron in this series!
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