Stomping Fnatic in game three, the Ukrainian squad move onto the semi-finals of the upper bracket where they face the winner of EG vs CDEC.Y.
Game One
Draft wise, Na’Vi went for a heavy push strat, with a first phase NP picked up along with a Lycan and Venge. Sensing an oncoming Drow, Fnatic choose to pick her up themselves instead of banning her out, denying the Drow-Venge aura combo for Na’Vi. The Ukrainians countered with two classics: an Enchantress pick for their resident jungler Ivan ‘Artstyle’ Antonov and a Shadowfiend for Daniel ‘Dendi’ Ishutin. Fnatic rounded out their lineup with a Nyx Assassin and a Phoenix making for a lineup with a lack of cc.
Early game, all eyes were on Nai ‘MidOne’ Zheng Yeik, who had a tough time on his safelane Drow, constantly pressure by Artstyle and Victor ‘GeneRaL-qw’ Nigrini on the Nature’s Prophet. With a lack of cc in Fnatic’s lineup, the duo simply ran at the Drow under her tower, killing her twice before the five minute mark, and hampered the ranger’s timing immensely. Meanwhile in the midlane, Yee ‘Mushi’ Fung Chai bullied the Dendi-SF out of lane, but some aggressive jungling from Artstyle allowed Dendi to catch up in his own jungle.
An early rosh at 10 minutes by Na’Vi seemed to signal a momentum shift for Fnatic, as Na’Vi took the aegis but simply chose to farm instead of taking objectives. While Na’Vi had a very strong lead during the first 10-15 minutes, Fnatic played a brilliant catch-up game, constantly splitting the map, allowing MidOne to get extremely farmed on the Drow Ranger.
Game Two
Perhaps looking to keep their momentum from game one, Fnatic drafted an aggressive early-mid game lineup with a Huskar, Sand King and a Qwas-Wex Mushi Invoker. With Ancient Apparition banned out, Na'Vi had very few responses for the Huskar but decided to pick up a Faceless Void, hoping to lock down the hero before it could do any damage to the Na'Vi lineup. A Clinkz for Dmitrii 'Ditya-Ra' Minenkov rounded out Na'Vi's late game.
Early on, Fnatic seemed to have control of the laning stage, dominating the Na'Vi offlane with the Sand King and Dazzle, and also forcing a very early return to fountain from the safelane Void played by GeneRaL-qw. However as the game progressed and Na'Vi started to come together, the Ukrainians continually caught the Huskar out in the Chronosphere, allowing them to take a big lead in the first 20 minutes.
Fnatic showed signs of life at around 25 minutes taking two great fights, catching out an aegis and Faceless Void before a Chronosphere. Fnatic followed up a poorly positioned Na'Vi who decided to fight without the Void. However, it came down to the lack of damage on the Fnatic cores, with a heavy reliance on the Huskar to dish out the majority of the DPS. A wrap-around smoke at 32 minutes by Fnatic cost them the game as the Na'Vi lineup simply tanked through the Epicenter and Deathward combo, making the series 1-1. MVP definitey goes to Artstyle. on his jungle Beastmaster: his early rotations from the jungle kept Na'Vi in the game.
Game Three
Borrowing from their opponents in game two, Na'Vi also picked up a Huskar and Sand King, complimented with an Io and NP for some insane mobility. Hoping to counter the mobility perhaps, Fnatic picked up a support Kunkka and Weaver along with a Skywrath Mage for some support and heavy magic burst.
The laning setup was wonky to say the least for game three, with a safelane Dendi on SK who contested the offlane Timber greatly. Midlane saw the Io-Huskar combo against Fnatic's BM, resulting in a dominant lane for the duo. The safelane for Fnatic however, seemed to be the only one that went well, with MidOne getting uncontested farm. However, a lack of involvement from the bug ultimately gave Na'Vi the lead they needed and by the time MidOne did come into the fights, it was too little too late.
Where Fnatic failed in game two, it seems Na'Vi succeeded in game three, with the constant relocates and Teleports by Io and NP turning every engagement taken by Fnatic--even single pickoffs--into the favor of the Ukrainians. In the end, Na'Vi stomped Fnatic in under 15 minutes and move on to the semi-finals of the upper bracket.
Na'Vi face the winner of EG vs CDEC.Y which can be watched here.
