DreamLeague Season 10: falling into the lower bracket
The journey through the lower bracket starts tomorrow
The first game of playoffs upper bracket had 
NAVI.GG.BET play against 
Tigers in a Bo3 series. The tough series ended the way of Tigers with a score of 2:1, as NAVI fall into the lower bracket.
Game 1 - Natus Vincere [0:1] Tigers
Tigers
Xepher
Ahjit
1437
Moonmeander
inYourdreaM
NAVI.GG.BET
Blizzy
Chuvash
SoNNeikO
Crystallize
MagicaL
The first game kicked off relatively calm. Teams were trying to farm and harass each other occasionally. Soon enough, the Radiant and Dire
There were relatively few kills by 10 minutes, but quite a lot of attempts. NAVI were not really aggressive on the map, preferring to sit back and farm up. Chronosphere wasn't used by Crystallize all the way till minute 17, as he didn't want to whiff it - he chose to go for a safe CM pickoff. NAVI allowed Void to get some farm while utilizing the space around the map, as Tigers were chasing one objective after another, not really concentrating. Safelane was the first to fall on the Radiant side, but other lanes remained intact.
Tigers were generally avoiding the fights, and they were getting their critical items. NAVI chose to go for objectives. By 30 minutes NAVI went for a fight in the midlane - we killed PL and forced a buyback, but had to retreat immediately. The opponent used that opportunity to take the Roshan, with the Aegis for Phantom Lancer. Another smaller fight saw a couple of our heroes dead, but as Lina was out of the picture for a while, Tigers got the mid T3 and a ranged barrack.
By now, the advantage was on the side of Tigers. Their cores were in the top-3 in terms of net worth, while NAVI were lagging behind. Both teams were rather careful, but soon, a rather big fight broke out near the Roshan. Unfortunately, it really didn't go our way, as Enigma got bashed through BKB - NAVI lost 3 heroes and had to use a buyback. The opponent used our inability to contest Roshan, taking it for free. The ultimate fight unraveled near our base - it seemed we had neither initiation nor damage, getting shut down massively before calling GG.
Game 2 - Natus Vincere [1:1] Tigers
NAVI.GG.BET
Blizzy
SoNNeikO
Chuvash
Crystallize
MagicaL
Tigers
Xepher
Ahjit
1437
Moonmeander
inYourdreaM
For the second game, NAVI opted for a rather greedy lineup. The early game really wasn't working out for us, as Tigers were able to find quite a few pickoffs with the help from Shadow Demon. The situation deteriorated as Io got his level 6 - the rotations became that much more effective. Meanwhile, Alchemist was trying to farm - even if MagicaL wasn't doing too shabby, the rest of NAVI were in not a good shape as opposed to Tigers. The opponent was gaining even more advantage, as we not able to either defend or attack well.
17 minutes in NAVI had a fairly good engagement - we got 4 kills in a span of roughly 30 seconds, with all but Gyrocopter falling. This enabled us to get some crucial items, and a couple of minutes later we managed to pull off a teamwipe. That particular fight in the bottom part of the map netted us 6 kills, instantly swinging the net worth lead our way. NAVI continued to pressure the opponent, but not without consequences. Some items for Tigers allowed them to sway the fights in their favor - we lost 4 heroes.
However, 30 minutes in NAVI went for the first, sneaky Roshan of the game, getting the Aegis on Alchemist. More fights followed - a fight in the top lane saw Alchemist die once, but we picked off Centaur. Tigers decided to re-engage while most of our ultimates and items were down, and paid dearly - even though they killed the Alchemist, they lost 3. NAVI didn't plan to stop the pressure on the map, getting the kill on Ember and forcing the buyback. Later, both NAVI and Tigers smoked up - NAVI got better end of the trade, with 4 dead on the opposing side, and the Dire lost mid.
The Radiant went for the second Roshan of the game, Aegis for Weaver. We went for the top lane - Tigers threw everything they could to stop NAVI, but even the buybacks didn't stop us from taking the top lane barracks. A death of Gyrocopter a minute later spelled the end of the game, as 2 minutes without the main core was too much to ask - we move to game 3.
Game 3 - Natus Vincere [1:2] Tigers
Tigers
-
1437
Xepher
Ahjit-
inYourdreaM
Moonmeander
NAVI.GG.BET
Crystallize-
Blizzy
-
SoNNeikO
Chuvash
MagicaL
The final game had NAVI go for a Drow strat. The problem was a rather small HP pool on our heroes, so Drow Ranger was the first to fall, as Tigers take the First Blood. The top lane was really not going very well for us, because Terrorblade was able to claim 3 kills. The laning stage was generally okay, with the first tower to fall being Radiant bottom T1. Some rotations from the opponent, though, netted them some kills, so Tigers broke ahead. The early game aggression was superb on the side of the opponent, as NAVI were falling behind.
The game had a few sporadic fights, but those were mostly the pickoffs that were the main reasons of action on the map. Enemy Lina was rather strong, able to kill Drow Ranger fairly confidently. Crystallize was shut down very hard, which really hindered NAVI pushing potential - Tigers had all but 1 towers standing. As the game approached 20 minutes, the Radiant slain the first Roshan of the game. By 24 minutes, the Radiant managed to get the first T3 tower of the game.
The game was falling apart for NAVI - the superb mobility and lockdown on the side of Tigers didn't allow us to fight comfortably. The final fight sealed the deal - Blinks and BKB-piercing disables gave us little to no chance, as the team crumbled. NAVI lose the third map and fall down into the lower bracket at DreamLeague Season 10.
