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Alliance and Sigma convincingly knock down Fnatic and Na`Vi

The first two StarLadder matches are played and the predictions from yesterday are already looking like a long shot. Alliance and Sigma both win their matches 2-0 and Fnatic and Na`Vi will have to fight for survival tomorrow.

Alliance showed signs of fresh winds today as they drafted what felt very Alliancesque, but still with some twists, such as s4's Shadow Shaman and EGM's Silencer. Fnatic on the other hand had an overconfidence in Slark and could not manage to properly make him work neither of the games. 7ckngMad of Sigma said earlier during the press conference that he thinks Slark is an overrated hero despite his team mate miGGel being in love with it. However that did not stop Sigma from picking it up themselves, and to a great success.

Sigma International played a text book Sigma match versus Na`Vi, doing what they do best, just making the opponents seem clueless. They had harder time in game two, but managed to successfully push out Na`Vi with a very push and force heavy line-up. Needless to say, the predictions made here at GosuGamers yesterday are already out of the window and the expected grand final of Fnatic versus Natus Vincere is now an impossibility. They face each other tomorrow already in the first round of the lower bracket, where one team get eliminated. Sigma will be taking on Alliance, winner of that match is secured at least second place.


Alliance vs Fnatic

The playoffs' first game started with some extremely successful rotations by Fnatic, sending them off to a decent lead. However the lead was nullified and reversed at the first Roshan, after that the strong will of Alliance took over and they spelled the outcome of the fights with some great synergy and individual play. Despite the early game, Fnatic could not manage to find the levels and items they needed to stand up against Alliance. 

Successful laning in game two meant a good start once again for Fnatic, but a few small skirmishes utilizing the early maxed out Rocket Flare of Clockwerk evened out the game. The questionable start had Silencer being useless but he quickly got into his role of the game, ensuring ganks and turning around team fights. Fnatic seemed a bit clueless how to go up against the Silencer and despite getting off a few perfect Song of the Siren into Requiem combinations, Alliance won the fights and won the series 2-0.

>> Alliance vs Fnatic - VODs and drafts


Natus Vincere vs Sigma International

Natus Vincere went into game one with confidence, allowing Sigma to pick their signature Bane + Mirana as their first two. It proved to be Na´Vi's mistake as Sigma got the exact game they wanted while Na`Vi tried to play more greedy and were not able to keep up with Sigma's aggression. Great moves and calls between the players quickly made the graphs rise massively in Sigma's favour. Despite having a few decent fights, Na`Vi could never get into the game, they were too crippled and Sigma had way too many levels and items on their heroes.

Game two was more even, Sigma ran a push heavy strategy oriented around Dragon Knight and Pugna while Na`Vi had aggressive and responsive heroes such as Io, Nyx and Visage. Sigma did a good job at forcing fights but they had a hard time dealing with Na`Vi's Bristleback and Na`Vi did a good job focusing Pugna in every fight. Funn1k especially was playing solid, landing Impales on multiple targets. However, after catching Io and Bristle offguard in the middle lane, Sigma could successfully claim the middle barracks. From there on, Sigma were too strong with their recently acquired Necronomicons.

>> Na`Vi vs Sigma.int - VODs and drafts

The video below is from Sigma vs Na`Vi, game 1 - where Na`Vi get a good initation at the bottom tower but Sigma prove to be too strong.

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Linus "Tjernobylbarnet" Staaf<p>Linus Staaf - former operations manager at GosuGamers.&nbsp;Started following eSports in 2009, responsible for the GGnet database 2009-2015. Film and music enthusiast and a firm believer that longer songs are better. Always finish&nbsp;what I sta - follow @Tjernobylbarnet</p>

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