image credits: esl-gaming
Team NP sent Fnatic home with a 2-0 over the Malaysian squad after a strong game one and big comeback in game two.
Game One
In game one of the elimination bracket, Team NP dominated Fnatic with a cleanly executed draft and strategy. Interestingly, Fnatic let EE's signature Ember Spirit through, which proved a key mistake. However, MVP definitely goes to Theeban 'Rose' Siva for his Spirit Breaker whose early rotations proved absolutely crucial to NP's mid and late game success and conversely Fnatic's mid and late game failings.
The early phase of the game saw Fnatic try to contest Kurtis 'Aui_2000' Ling's Slark in the safelane with an aggro dual lane by way of Wei Poong 'YamateH' Ng's Disruptor and Chong Xin 'Ohaiyo' Khoo's Slardar. Aui weathered the storm, and despite first blood going to Fnatic at 2 minutes on Avery 'SVG' Silverman's Crystal Maiden, NP were the ones to take hold of the real initiative with a great gank on Yee Fung 'Mushi' Chai by Rose and Jacky 'EternalEnvy' Mao. From there, the game simply devolved into a slugfest for NP as they continually looked to fight, while Fnatic desperately waited for Ohaiyo's Blink Daggar—an item he picked up too late at around 20 minutes.
As the game transitioned into its final stages, Fnatic were just too far behind. NP picked apart the Malaysian squad. It seemed Fnatic hedged too much of their bets on Mushi's Medusa getting farm and damage, but the veteran simply couldn't 1v5 against the highly mobile and well-farmed NP lineup. After a number of desperation smokes which ended in disaster each time for Fnatic, they finally called GG around the 40 minute mark and moved on to game two to regroup and refresh.
Game Two
Game two started off much better for Fnatic. They went with much more active supports in their draft versus the relatively passive duo in game one. Yongmin 'Febby' Kim looked especially at home on the Riki, much more than on the KoTL, allowing him to roam around the map and really put pressure on NP. And further, Fnatic decided to give Tinker to the young Muhammad 'InYourDream' Rizky--the first Tinker pick of the tournament. Team NP responded with their classic Mirana-Warlock combo and a signature Ursa for Aui but decided to go for some interesting lanes. Ursa and Warlock went mid against the Tinker while EE was left top to solo against Ohaiyo and Febby.
Early game seemed to go by way of Fnatic, as rotations to the bottom lane really took advantage of Arif 'MSS' Anwar's Beastmaster's lack of mobility. Despite this, Aui found two kills on InYourDream's Tinker early on, putting a hamper on the machinist's timing. As the game transitioned to the middle stage, Fnatic had a great lead, ahead by almost 15k at one point: a consequence of rotations by YamateH, Mushi, and Febby, giving InYourDream some much needed space to farm and push out the waves. Despite this, NP still managed to sneak away with three Aegises, losing only a few each time. The first Aegis proved crucial to NP, as shortly after taking it at 23:00 the Canadians found both Fnatic cores and a support, putting the Malaysians a little on their back feet. Fnatic answered back shortly after and wiped NP, taking a tier three bottom at 25 minutes. For each engagement up to that point it seemed Fnatic were the aggressors and NP needed to really find their own initiation.
As the game went into its final stages, NP finally found their stepping stone. They took a three-for-one trade at 37 minutes. This turned into another great engagement for NP at 45, as NP caught Fnatic smoked on the low ground and swung back that 15k networth lead that Fnatic held onto, taking three from Fnatic as well as the Aegis and Cheese shortly after. After that the game settled in relative passivity, with both teams looking for that perfect engagement to seal their victory. They both pushing out lanes and farmed up buybacks. It was two fights that sealed Fnatic's fate, however, with the first being a great fight for NP at 68 minutes: EE got jumped by Febby and Mushi, but EE simply turned around and fought Mushi with his Satanic and Mjolnir, forcing Mushi back. An arrow would clip Mushi on the retreat, and the NP squad rolled over him along with two others from Fnatic, giving NP a tier three and a buyback from Mushi. Mushi diedback a few minutes later, and NP went on to close it around 74 minutes, going straight past barracks to tier fours and throne. MVP for sure goes out to both febby and Aui this game for febby's early game rotations and aggression and Aui's absolute fearlessness with his Ursa, which allowed the rest the NP squad to get into position.
