posted by Abelle,
ua Natus Vincere's first DreamLeague Season 8 match was last night. They faced up against fellow CIS team ru Vega Squadron *, and their performance reminded us of the days when Na`Vi was a name chanted in stadiums.


This match was also Vega's first match of DreamLeague. While Vega had played a few matches in the interim, Na`Vi's previous match almost a week ago had been a 2-1 loss to Vega in the The Perfect World Masters CIS qualifier. Vega went on to qualify for that event while Na`Vi waited and prepared for this rematch.

Game 1





When the enemy team first-picks Nature's Prophet, what else can you do but pick a split-pusher of your own. ua Danil 'Dendi' Ishutin's hero was the second-phase Broodmother this game, supplemented by a last-pick Beastmaster for ua Viktor 'GeneRaL' Nigrini.

ua Vladislav 'Crystallize' Krystanek was the real star of the show in Game 1. You might think that against the kiting power of Sprout and slows from both Lich and Viper, a Sven woudln't stand a chance of even getting close to his enemies, but that was not the case. Crystallize was a beast in this game, ending up with a KDA of 11/1/12 after farming a Mask of Madness, Heaven's Halberd and Blink Dagger all within the first 20 minutes of the game.

Vega's hopes laid in the carry Ursa, played by ua Ilya 'AlohaDance' Korobkin. He had the most kills on his team, but Na`Vi managed to kill him early and often, keeping Vega from being able to snowball.

ru Vasily 'Afterlife' Shishkin did his best to rat with NP, but Na`Vi had the perfect solution. They purchased Boots of Travel on all three of their cores and were able to teleport to any Spiderling, Hawk, Boar or, of course, Creep or Tower they needed to catch Furion in the act.



With Game 1 in the bag, it was time for Dendi to heat things up. His Lina, picked last in the draft, was an absolute force of destruction. He went for Bloodstone as his first item, and snowballed from there with kill after kill.

Na`Vi struggled somewhat in the early game with significant pressure put on Crystallize's Necrophos in the safelane, but once Dendi had finished farming that Bloodstone things quickly turned Na`Vi's way. Even ALOHADANCE's Bristleback, who was quite farmed from all the kills he was involved in, couldn't wishstand the fiery onslaught.

The supports were on point in both assisting and keeping their cores out of harm's way. ru Akbar 'SoNNeikO' Butaev and ru Vladimir 'RodjER' Nikogosyan were always ready to lay down a Smoke Cloud or Ice Path to help out their team. The coordination between all of Na`Vi's players on display was impressive.

A fight around the Rosh pit at the 33 minute mark gave Na`Vi the momentum they needed to finish off Vega. Dendi ended Game 2 with a 16/3/10 KDA.

GGWP to @VegaSquadron! We are winning the second game, making it 2:0 in the series! #gonavi #dota2 pic.twitter.com/jTl4FKR2zk— Natus Vincere (@natusvincere) October 6, 2017


Na`Vi's next DreamLeague match hasn't been scheduled yet. According to a Tweet from OG, DreamLeague EU/CIS may not return until next month. Given the number of LAN events scheduled in the coming weeks, this would certainly make sense.

In fact, Na`Vi are set to compete in front of a home crowd at the Starladder | i-League Invitational #3 Minor in Kiev next week. They'll face eu Team Secret in their first group stage match on Oct 13 at 15:00 CEST.

Header photo: EPICENTER

  • Abelle
    Abelle

    Abelle

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