BenQ Clash #2 Final:Natural 9 vs Moscow 5

Natures Prophet will be the critical hero of this game as Natural 9 aim to have a strong push oriented, disable line-up.Prophet has to manage to follow up on ganks and via using his power provide the much needed map control domination.He is a force that will create problems to the more solid M5 line-up not leaving them space to farm.

The Pick/Ban analysis
First Ban Phase	First Pick Phase
Natural 9 has the first ban, and they ban Night Stalker after failing to shut him down in game 2, a hero with great gank cabalities. They also ban Broodmother, a great pick with tremendous pushing potential and a reliable carry as well. Moscow 5 ban Venomancer, a pick favored by N9 and a great lane controller with the serpent wards. M5 also ban Anti-mage a hero which is proven to be hard to counter in the game of Dota 2 due to his extreme late game potential and escape mechanisms.	Natural 9 pick Nature's Prophet and Shadow Shaman, picks that have a tremendous global presence and lane control-push abilities, while at the same time decide to pick a hard carry in the fοrm of Weaver. Moscow 5 decide to pick Lich and Windrunner, with Lich having the ability to deny and control the creep wave and Windrunner an all around pick, and a nice solo laner. After Natural 9's Weaver pick, M5 decides to go for Slardar, a great Weaver counter, and a pick with great tank ability in fights.
Second Ban Phase	Second Pick Phase
Natural 9 decides to ban Enigma, trying to avoid the massive Black Hole, which combined with Slardar and Lich's Ultimate would be disastrous. They also decide to ban Puck, a great side solo and a hero with great fight initiation abilities. Moscow 5 decide to ban Chen, wanting to avoid Chen's pushing power and neutral control, also having in mind his synergy with the rest of N9's line-up. Tidehunter was also banned in the second ban phase, Moscow 5 wanting to avoid his survival ability and his Ravage ultimate, which combined with Shadow Shaman's Ward would inflict major damage to their supports during the early phase of the game.	Natural 9 cap their line up via picking Sand King and Ancient Aparition. Sand King is a great initiator and has a huge team fight impact with his ultimate. Ancient Apparition pick provided Natural 9 with more lane control and a great support hero with global presence ability. Wanting to have a stronger and aggressive line-up, Moscow 5, pick Priestess of the Moon, a great initiator with great mid to late game potentiality. M5 cap their line up with Dazzle, a great support hero, which ensures that Priestess of the Moon will be protected during the early game and have space to farm.
Critical Hero
Impressions
Natural 9 have a push oriented line up, with great lane control heroes,big disable spells and excessive early game power when compared to Moscow 5. M5 though, if they manage to hold their ground and get their items up, possible BKBs to counter the disable advantage of N9, and with the progression of time, certainly will be stronger toward mid to late game, as Slardar's tank ability will increase and PotM will have some items coming up.

|08:45-12.00| N9 manage to claim the first tier 1 tower in middle and top lane as well, increasing their map control.

|13:40| Another successful gank is set up by Prophet and his global presence power, which leads to another tier 1 tower lost for Moscow 5, this time on bottom lane.
Early Game Impressions: Natural 9 seem to have total control over the map, having earned three tier 1 towers, an important boost to their gold amount as well. Using Prophet's global presence and AA and Shadow Shaman's disable abilities, they manage to set up kills, leading with an 8-3 advantage. On the other hand, Moscow 5 seem to be keen on farming up, especially Priestess of the Moon and Slardar and try to have as much control as possible with Dazzle constantly warding and de-warding on the high ground rune spots and neutral camps. PotM at the top lane, with a constantly ganking Prophet finds some space to farm up, while at the bottom lane, Windrunner and Weaver are on an equal CS score.

|17:18| After picking up Windrunner on bottom lane, Shadow Shaman accompanied by Prophet and Weaver, claim the first tier two tower.

|23:30| M5 attempt to push the middle tier one tower but they are countered by a Blink-Epicenter combination from Sand King, Serpent Wards from Shadow Shaman and AA's Ice Blast, resulting in a 3-1 trade in favor of Natural 9, with only Shadow Shaman going down for N9.

The power of N9's disable and Epicenter damage.

|31:00-36:00| This time period finds both teams, farming throughout the map, without any gank attempt going on. Moscow 5 are finishing up their Black King Bars on Priestess of the Moon and Slardar as well, an item that is the counter to the mass disable advantage of N9. Due to their map control, Natural 9 have more space to farm and Shadow Shaman has already finished up his own BKB along with Weaver, who already has his Radiance, BKB and Vanguard up.

|37:05| Moscow 5, having their BKB on their main damage dealer, PotM, and on their tank, Slardar, try to find an opening and take advantage over N9. An amazing ultimate by PotM on the Radiant's neutral camp, provides the opportunity that M5 were looking for. They manage to engage in a fight by picking up Sand King and Shadow Shaman, while the rest of Natural 9 come to support, with the fight already decided though. The clash finds M5 earning themselves a 4-0 kill exchange and an Aegis of the Immortal on PotM as well. With this fight the scoreboard is now 25-19, still in favor Natural 9, but M5 seem to really have capped the level difference and the earlier fight advantage of N9 .At this time, the mid to late game advantage of Moscow 5's roster takes effect, as the Dazzle's Weave and Slardar's Amplify Damage, results in major armor reduction, and PotM with her damage output slices through their -16 armor opponents.

|38:00-42:00| Natural 9 try to increase their map control, with Prophet pushing through all lanes, while at the same time M5 try to utilize their fight advantage. Kills are going in favor of both teams, with Natual 9 being able to pick up Dread's Lich and M5 picking up Shadow Shaman twice and Ancient Aparition as well. A team fight is absent in this time though as now M5 have more space to farm and want to increase their advantage by doing so.

|43:00| With Moscow 5 on the verge of a complete comeback, M5 set up yet another fight. With Crystalis now up on PotM, M5 use Smoke of Deceit to engage once again on the bottom tier two tower area. The fight results in a 3-2 exchange in favor of M5 and the tier 2 tower as well. The amplify damage and PotM's damage output resulted in Weaver and Shadow Shaman being picked up early in the fight, without being able to utilize their abilities. Moscow 5 almost even the score with a 28-27 scoreboard.

M5 smoked, are in the hunt for kills.

|51:00| A smoke initiation by M5 near the Roshan pit leads to Shadow Shaman and Sand King as well being picked up, and with N9 not being able to counter M5's Roshan attempt, cheese and Aegis are now part of the Moscow 5 team, on Slardar and PotM respectively. Moscow 5 try to push through once again, but while they were at the Roshan pit, Prophet was already pushing his way through and managed to inflict some damage on their top tier 3 tower, therefore they are forced to teleport back.

|55:00| Moscow 5 are gathering and try to claim N9's tier 3 middle tower. This time though, with Weaver distracting M5's line-up by using Sukuchi just outside the tower range, and an amazing Blink-Epicenter by Sand-King combined with Shadow Shaman's instant BKB and Serpent Ward usage, earns Natural 9 a 3-0 advantage and at the same time, they manage to strip Slardar of his cheese and PotM's Aegis. By this time Prophet has built an Assault Cuirass in an attempt to reduce the minus armor coming from Slardar. Prophet, instantly teleports in the middle-lane and accompanied by Weaver, earn a tier 3 middle tower and force buybacks from Slardar and Windrunner.

|55:00 to 57:00| After gaining middle tier 3 tower, Natural 9 are gathering in the middle lane in order to force their way through M5's base and earn their Barracks. After a series of fights outside M5's base, with N9 losing their Prophet, Shadow Shaman and Weaver while M5 lose their Slardar again as well as Lich and Windrunner, buybacks from Prophet and Weaver are forced from N9. With Slardar already dead, having the buyback on cooldown as well, Natural 9 manage to claim M5's middle range and melee barracks and top lane tier 3 tower and melee barracks as well. The scoreboard is now 34-32 with N9, utilizing their Prophet's teleportation ability and Weaver's damage output and Radiance burning down creeps, manage to earn themselves a great advantage of almost 2 sets of barracks.

N9 earn themselves some beautiful 'racks.

|61:00 to 67:00| Moscow 5, realizing that Natural 9 have complete control at this time, with their Top and Middle lane barracks lost, they are trying to find an opening and force a fight, while Natural 9, having realized their advantage, are farming up on their lanes without over extending .At this time, Weaver purchases Boots of Travel to accompany Prophet's teleportation when needed.

|69:00| M5 want to initiate using PotM as bait, but Dendi is instantly picked off by N9. Dendi is forced to buy back and the ongoing fight finds M5 able to pick up Weaver, who buys back in retrospect. Both teams now move slightly backwards to regroup.

|71:00| The 2 minutes hiatus ends and another clash occurs, just outside the neutral camp near the Roshan area, Shadow Shaman and Prophet are the losses from N9's side, while M5 lose their Lich and Windrunner, and Slardar's cheese and PotM's aegis are lost as well. An instant buyback and teleport from Prophet towards M5's bottom lane tier 3 tower, finds M5 losing their tier 3 tower, but manage to pick Prophet once again. At this time the scoreboard is at 36-36 in an amazing almost one kill-per-minute game.

|74:00-77:00| Moscow 5, decide to go all-in, with a Divine Rapier up on Dendi's PotM and gather trying to find an opening. This results in a series of fights as both teams are forced to buy back with no one really having an advantage over all. Weaver leaves the battlefield when Shadow Shaman and AA have been killed, while M5 have lost their Slardar and Windrunner, and instantly teleports on M5's bottom lane and manages to claim M5's melee barracks before getting picked up.
Once M5 are whole again after their respawns, they try to force their way through N9's Middle Tower and Barracks. Shadow Shaman Sand King, Prophet and Weaver are picked up by M5 but buy back, while M5 have lost their Lich, Windrunner and Dazzle who buy back as well. M5 try to finish via the middle, but N9 manage to pick up Dendi, who drops the Divine Rapier and ends up to Weaver, resulting in a Rampage. At the same time Prophet teleports on M5's remaining bottom lane range barracks, and manages to claim them. The "gg wp" is called by M5 and N9 claim their first ever Dota 2 Title.

Weaver is on a Rampage.