posted by ReiNNNN,
After 3 long months of groupstages and playoffs games, The Defense has finally come to an end as we crown a new champion -
[B]Natus Vincere[/B]. Na'Vi went into the Grand Final with a one game lead and started sloppy when they lost their first two games against 
[B]Quantic Gaming[/B]. Quantic was on the verge of a clean swipe until the Ukrainians decided to buckle down and put on their gamer hat before they fall second.Coming back from a 2-1 deficit, Na'Vi pulled off the unthinkable as what people think would have been a lost cause judging from their performance over the first two games.
Assuming that you have missed out the Grand Final live, you can take a read here to ease your nerves while waiting for the VoDs to be uploaded. Game One
Quantic as predicted quickly banned out Na'Vi's bread and butter, Holy Knight just two seconds into the game followed by Na'Vi's common ban Dark Seer. Quantic picked Furion up following the Invoker and Shadow Shaman ban and Na'Vi would go out of their comfort zone to second pick Anti-Mage in hopes for a mid-late game strat. Quantic is obvious in trying to go for the push strat as they pick up two very powerful pushing heroes, Broodmother and Windrunner.
In the second ban and pick phase, Quantic banned Crystal Maiden and Venomancer respectively while Na'Vi eliminated pushing heroes, Vengeful Spirit and Enigma. Quantic still opting for that push strat decides to take Earthshaker and Mirana as main carry which Na'Vi responded with a Leshrac to slow down the push and an interesting pick, Warlock (Smile) which is Na'Vi's answer to Quantic's mean pushing strat.
Dire (Na'Vi)Radiant (Quantic)
Na'Vi started the game with a typical defensive combo on the top lane with the Anti-Mage (XBOCT) laned with Warlock for his heal going up against an extremely aggressive Earthshaker (Mania), Mirana (AngeL), and Windrunner (Ryze) trilane. The first blood quickly came with a support teleport from Furion beautifully on the top forest, body blocking the lane enough for Enchantress (Puppey) not to pass through. Quantic got the First Blood on Enchantress at the expense of Windrunner falling to Anti-Mage.
As Na'Vi would have strategically do with their aggressive gank strat, on the 5:30 minutes mark, Na'Vi quickly smoked up for a gank on the top lane but with the help of Furion teleporting for support managed to turn of the tide of the gank. Na'Vi lost 2 heroes including Anti-Mage to 1 in this skirmish.
On the other hand, Sand King (LightOfHeaven) is doing a fantastic job at the bottom lane maxing Sand Storm instead of Burrowstrike to stop the push from Broodmother (Link). Instead, Broodmother sends his spiderlings into the jungle for the Earthshaker to get some farm on the big neutrals.
The first tower went down in favour of Quantic at the 11th minute mark as they managed to push Sand King back into base and quickly pushed the tier-one tower in the bottom lane. Although support from Tormented Soul came in and Sand King returned, they tried denying the tower from the retreating Quantic heroes before falling to a siege creep on the last hit. Misjudgement here by both the heroes defending. Broodmother interestingly bought a Vanguard following the tower.
Quantic performed a lane switch to move Broodmother to the top lane and the trilane towards bottom. Na'Vi was quick to respond to this by shuffling their heroes around too. However, these lane switches do not look too favourable for Na'Vi as the Anti-Mage had trouble farming against the Broodmother which is as tank as he is. Therefore, Na'Vi went for the right thing and pushed the tier-one tower of the top lane while denying their own tower in the mid.
Quantic quickly capitalize in the overextending Anti-Mage using a smoke gank. They managed to quickly take down the blinker with a great Shackleshot and they subsequently push down the top tier-one tower, defended bottom lane killing two heroes, took the bottom tier-two tower and went for Roshan. Na'Vi tried defending the Roshan and successfully did so but a mass buyback from Quantic ensured the win in the skirmish. Quantic took the battle and the Roshan while Mirana picks up the Aegis. At the same time, Anti-Mage bought his Manta Style at 24 minutes. Mirana have his Manta Style too.
Yet another smoke gank gone wrong from Na'Vi got Sand King picked off and Quantic mounted a big push to the top tier-two tower. This is where we see the massive idea behind picking Warlock. The battle near the tower went in favour of the Ukrainians under a massive Upheaval by Warlock picking off Quantic heroes one by one. Anti-Mage quickly moved towards bottom to take bottom lane and later on, kill Earthshaker. The game is getting too late for Quantic at this point of the game.
Realizing this, Quantic thew battle after battle into the Dire forest and were successful in both skirmishes. Roshan came back right after the second battle and Quantic quickly took it down without any resistance. Mirana picked up the Aegis again. Anti-Mage has Vanguard, Vladimir, Butterfly and Manta Style at 40 minutes. Na'Vi began to get a little aggressive and bring the battle back to Quantic. After a long drawn out battle in the middle lane, and many rebuys later, Na'Vi came up on top and took the mid tier-two tower.
A silly mistake by Warlock at 45 minutes ended getting himself picked off by a smoke gank and here goes the deciding battle. Quantic assembled for a top lane push in the 45 seconds window that they have and although Na'Vi managed to pull off a really good fight, Quantic heroes are too tanky for them to handle and the Danes destroyed both top barracks.
The game soon became a real nail-bitter as Na'Vi finally managed to win a major battle near the Rosh pit successfully giving them a free third Roshan. Cheese however, did not dropped and the Aegis which Anti-Mage picked up was lost to a silly pick off on the bottom lane. It is all downhill from there for Na'Vi as creeps from the torn top lane destroyed both the tier-four tower and began hitting the throne.
Quantic played cautiously to ward off any surprise comebacks from Na'Vi and the game is all over.
Interesting note: AngeL nearly managed to kill Na'Vi's crow at 8:45 game time. The crow barely escaped with 1 hit point.
Game Two
In game two, Na'Vi once again removed Dark Seer first from the hero pool and Nature's Prophet second. Quantic still fearing the Ukrainian Holy Knight removed the jungler alongside Invoker. Na'Vi immediately picked up Anti-Mage again considering how well XBOCT played it last game and would be expected to pick a different type of strat complimenting the carry this time. Quantic responded with Windrunner and Shadow Shaman, a very cliche pick after Anti-Mage normally and Na'Vi went with Enigma and Vengeful Spirit. Quantic end the first drafting phase with Mirana.
The second drafting phase started out with a quick Sand King ban from Na'Vi and a Broodmother ban from the Danes. Na'Vi subsequently banned Venomancer and Quantic removed Na'Vi's showmatch hero, Pudge. Na'Vi then picked up Tiny and Storm Spirit while Quantic will still be looking to complete their pushing line up with Enchantress and Tidehunter since Chen and Furion have been banned.
Dire (Quantic)Radiant (Na'Vi)
And the game began. Tiny (Dendi) will be facing off against Shadow Shaman (AngeL) in mid while Storm Spirit (Puppey) will be weirdly, jungling. First blood was quickly taken one minute into the game as Enigma (LightOfHeaven) went up against a semi-trilane in the tough lane. The tower nearly went down three minutes into the game but the Eidolons managed to stop it right enough for it to not go down. However, a second death of Enigma ensured the tower drop.
At the same time, Anti-Mage (XBOCT) managed to kill off Mirana (Link) at bottom lane after massive harrassment from Vengeful Spirit (Smile) and a leap bait. Anti-Mage is level 6 while Mirana is still level 1, 6 minutes into the game. Anti-Mage is doing so well that he decided to go for Hand of Midas first.
The top tier-two top proved too hard to be pushed. Tidehunter (miGGel) and Enchantress (Ryze) rotated towards the mid lane. A Gush and a second Serpent Ward trap on Tiny killed him off for the second time and Quantic took the first mid tower. These three heroes then rotated bottom and this time picking off Anti-Mage and yet another tower goes down. They go for the second and picked off Anti-Mage once again for the tier-two tower.
Tiny pulled off a spectacular show going for the top lane killing on Mirana rather easily. A spectacular toss pushed Enigma in front for yet another Mirana kill and another profitable Toss to last hit the tower. Although Quantic was three towers up at this point of the game, Na'Vi earned about the same gold as the Danes.
Quantic went to Roshan next and although Na'Vi was full aware of it, they have decided to not contest for the Aegis as Quantic takes the first Aegis. Quantic quickly went middle lane and took down the tier-two tower and immediately going for the tier-three. In what as syndereN called a ridiculous play, Quantic went for the third tower and managed to pick off Storm and take the mid lane barracks at 18 minutes.
Enchantress early Aghanims Scepter is too much for Na'Vi to handle and they quickly lost composure and control of the game. The second attempt to go on the bottom tower having only taken the tier-three tower on the first attempt sealed the game for Quantic. Na'Vi did not give up but they finally admit defeat 32 minutes into the game.
Interesting note: Anti-Mage overconfidence in picking up Hand of Midas instead of Vanguard most probably cost him two deaths early game. That could have been the dealbreaker for Na'Vi if the draft wasn't enough.
Game Three
The third game started out as usual with Na'Vi once again first ban Dark Seer and Quantic banned Holy Knight. However, it appeared that the Ukrainians has had enough of Anti-Mage as they put him as second ban while the Danes removed Broodmother. Na'Vi first picked Invoker and Quantic quickly responded with Furion and Windrunner looking for that quick push strat for the third time. Enchantress and Crystal Maiden was picked up by Na'Vi while Quantic settled with Mirana.
Tidehunter, Sand King, Shadow Shaman, and Leshrac was ultimately banned in the second draft phase as Na'Vi picked up Enigma while Vengeful Spirit will be Quantic's choice. Night Stalker, a hero that we have not seen much in the current meta-game was picked up by Na'Vi and will possibly be placed on the safe lane together with Crystal Maiden and a jungling Enchantress. Quantic at this time will have to look for a third trilane hero and who would fit the role better but Earthshaker. Once again, Quantic will be looking for a quick push down the bottom lane against possibly a solo Enigma.
Dire (Na'Vi)Radiant (Quantic)
Quantic started out the game extremely active, rotating the gankers onto the top lane where Invoker (Dendi) is at. Though with wards placed, Enchantress (Puppey) still got picked off and gave away the First Blood to Vengeful Spirit (Ryze). The duo, Vengeful and Earthshaker (Mania) quickly rotated to mid and then to bot for a gank/push but Earthshaker got killed for overextending instead. With this happened, it still does not stop Quantic from successfully pushing down the tier-one bottom tower after Earthshaker teleported back in though.
As minute 6 approached, night time has fallen as Night Stalker (XBOCT) is now actively ganking and he managed to kill two heroes before taking the bottom tier-one tower and tier-two tower. It appeared as if Quantic was too distracted at pushing the top lane that they have forgotten all about it. Na'Vi's push on the top lane is however parried by Quantic as they managed to pick off an overconfident Night Stalker and denied the tower.
In contrast to the games before, Na'Vi really started to go on the offense this game as they quickly pushed down the middle tier-one tower although they failed to go for the second.
At 17 minutes, a big team fight broke out at the top lane in which Quantic initiated the gank which got countered gank by Na'Vi though the Danes looking really bad at one point, still barely came out on top. Another team fight started at the same location just three minutes later and there is a clear winner this time, it's the Ukrainians'. Na'Vi then takes down the mid tier-one tower of the Radiant and went for Roshan. Night Stalker picks up the Aegis.
Insisting on their playstyle, Quantic went for Invoker and they managed to chain him down to quickly kill him off. With the Invoker dead, there is no way Na'Vi could stop the top tier-two tower push from Quantic. Na'Vi responded by taking down Quantic's last tier-two tower just minutes later. Earthshaker gets his Blink Dagger 29 minutes into the game.
With the Aegis of Immortal with Invoker, Na'Vi goes for a push on the bottom lane and it proved to be a tough feat. However, the tower was still taking a lot of damage from Invoker's Forge Spirit. Three minutes into the stand-off, the tower finally goes down and Night Stalker can now safely run into Quantic's base. A short while later, Na'Vi killed three Quantic heroes and took down the barracks in the bottom lane.
As the third Roshan appeared, another stand-off broke out near the Rosh pit. Neither teams dare to walk into the Rosh pit as a team wipe here would pretty much mean the end of the game. Ultimately, it was Na'Vi who tried to take Roshan first but when the gank comes, Invoker's skills are just too much for Quantic to handle and one by one the heroes of Quantic got picked off. With a few heroes down, Na'Vi goes for Roshan and Night Stalker picked up the Aegis while the Invoker picked up the Cheese although they lose both of them just minutes later suicide attacking the middle melee barracks.
In a desperate attempt to win the game, Quantic went all out towards the middle but it is to no avail. Na'Vi's heroes are already too farmed for a comeback at this point of the game. The "gg go last" was called by Quantic and we will be going to the final game of The Defense!
Interesting note: Invoker somehow sneaked its way into the pick phase this game and Dendi is smart in utilizing the rather imbalance hero. Invoker's early Force Staff not to mention, Tornado and Deafening Blast has won Na'Vi several team fight early in the game.
Game Four
No way in hell is Quantic going to allow Na'Vi to pick up Invoker again. Quantic quickly banned Invoker and it is business as usual for both these teams as they banned out Dark Seer, Holy Knight, and Shadow Shaman in order. Quantic then go for their bread and butter, Nature's Prophet while we will see Puppey playing Enchantress again as they pick her up alongside Windrunner. Quantic will be going off their comfort zone in this game as they opted for Anti-Mage, a hero that has failed to make impression twice earlier in the Grand Final and Na'Vi settled with Broodmother for the push strat.
Second ban phase sees Vengeful Spirit, Crystal Maiden, Night Stalker, and Venomancer. A well deserved ban in this phase would be Night Stalker due to its excellent performance last game which gave vision (Aghanim's Scepter) of all the support heroes standing far at the back and its ability to silence off key heroes such as Earthshaker. Quantic picked Leshrac while Na'Vi goes for an unorthodox yet underrated Twin Headed Dragon. Quantic complete their roster with Sand King and Na'Vi chose Rikimaru as their ultimate counter to the Anti-Mage.
Dire (Quantic)Radiant (Na'Vi)
Instead of having the Sand King (Mania) solo the Broodmother which is of norm, Quantic has decided to go with a old school Leshrac (miGGel) - Sand King lane with scorpion receiving all the farm while miGGel harrased the Broodmother down.
However, whatever farm which the Broodmother has been missing out was compensated by a complete early dominance in the bottom lane as Enigma (AngeL) took the fall twice and his teleport support, Furion (Ryze) went down with him. Quickly recovering from that, Furion teleported top to assist the Sand King and the Leshrac to push down the top lane tier-one and tier-two tower. They wanted to go for the third tower too but retreated when they realized what they got themselves into.
The exact same thing happened in the bottom lane in which Na'Vi is pushing the tier-two tower and successfully destroyed it. They quickly transitioned to the middle tower in which they destroyed it in just a matter of seconds while killing off some of the Dire's heroes in the process. All these were done even without the Broodmother. Anti-Mage (Link) however, still managed to buy his Vanguard in 8 minutes.
Na'Vi shift their attention to the top lane in which the final standing tier-two tower is within the grasp of the massive swarm of spiderlings which Broodmother has already spawned up. They took it witht close to no resistance and with all towers down, Na'Vi is running away with the game as they can now take Roshan easily if they manage to pick a hero or two off.
[I]All outer towers taken 11 minutes into the game[/I]
Similar to game three, Na'Vi gained map control with mobile heroes and warded all around the entrance of Dire's base. The game is slipping away from Quantic.
After a series of remake due to server and loading issues, the game was back on track and it seemed like all Quantic need is a rest and a glass of water. Quantic came back into the remake blasting through Na'Vi and fighting back against all odds. Although Na'Vi managed to kill off Roshan uncontested, their push towards the bottom lane is all but successful as a chain ultimate by Sand King and Enigma annihilated them. Not giving up on their massive gold advantage, Na'Vi goes for another push towards the bottom lane five minutes later and once again got massacred. Quantic took middle tier-two tower as revenge.
Anti-Mage bought his Manta Style 30 minutes into the game while Windrunner purchase Scythe of Vyse a minute later.
All is going well for Quantic until a bad move going into the Roshan at 33 minutes went horribly wrong for the Danes and they lost four heroes in the skirmish including the Roshan. Na'Vi claimed the middle melee barracks for this mistake.
Interesting note: I hope you did not miss the courier bug at 17:47 game time.
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Na'Vi will now walkaway with 6000 € while Quantic, with their heads held up high walks away with 2,500 €.
Our crew hope you enjoy our coverage of The Defense here at joinDOTA. It has been a long three months since it started. Thank you for tuning in.
[B]Prizes:
1st: Natus Vincere (6,000 €)
2nd: Quantic Gaming (2,500 €)
3rd: Evil Geniuses (1,500 €)[/B]
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