The two big Western rivals faced off for the playoffs of Dota2 Champions' League, with Natus Vincere showing their strength to qualify for the Grand Final. They will be facing the winner of the other battle between Empire and Cloud9.
We are slowly reaching the conclusion of Dota2 Champions' League, with the first game of the Semi Finals being played today between Alliance and Natus Vincere. The Dota2's version of 'El clásico' fully lived up to its name, with five thrilling games being played between the two Western Titans. In the end, it was Natus Vincere who proved the strongest, taking down Alliance with a 3-2 game score.
With their victory, Natus Vincere secured a spot in the Grand Final of D2CL, and they will find out their opponents in March 30th, with Empire taking on Cloud9 for the second semi final of the tournament. The match will take place at 19:15 CET and will be streamed live on Dailymotion by joinDOTA in English and VeRsuta in Russian.
Game One [Winner : Natus Vincere]
Both teams opted for line-ups with scary early-game potential, with NaVi focusing more on early pushing while Alliance gave emphasis on quick pick-offs. The game started with the worse way for Dendi, getting caught inside the Dire jungle to give first blood to Alliance before minute 0. NaVi attempted a strange dual offlane with Nature's Prophet and Shadow Shaman, that struggled to find farm and experience against Alliance's trilane. As usual, Puppey saved the day for the Ukrainians, with his well-timed rotations resulting in several kills for Na'Vi. XBOCT's Lycan and Loda's Ursa were free-farming for the duration of the early game.
The first big teamfight took during the 15th minute of the game, with Alliance intercepting Na'Vi's Roshan raid to kill four heroes, only giving their supports in exchange. The Swedes attempted to take down Roshan themselves, but they were too slow - Dendi returned just in time to prevent them from securing the Aegis, and took down Akke and Loda with the help of XBOCT. The first Aegis went to Na'Vi, just as the came started to turn into one big and long teamfight.
The pick-offs kept coming for both sides, with a 20minute score of 14-10 in favor of Alliance. Nevertheless, XBOCT's farming power started to make an impact, with a full Necronomicon 3 being complete around this time. All the tier-one towers of Alliance were gone, and the Swedes needed to catch up to Na'Vi's impressive farming speed. The second Roshan of the game seemed to be the solution to their problems, but yet again the Dire were there to punish their attempt. The Necronomicon warriors ripped Alliance apart, resulting in a 3-0 fight for Na'Vi, with AdmiralBulldog barely escaping through two lucky Entangles on XBOCT and Dendi.
As the second Roshan was going down, it was time for s4 to show his teeth, marching againt the Ukrainians to secure three quick pick-offs using Ancient Appartition's ultimate and Loda's burst damage. However, XBOCT finished Roshan himself, and returned with his shiny Aegis to get a solo triple kill on Alliance's retreating heroes. The wolf seemed to be too strong for the Radiant to control.
It was a matter of time until the first set of barracks go down for Natus Vincere. They breached the Radiant base through the middle lane with 32 minutes on the clock, destroying the precious buildings but losing XBOCT who did not manage to escape in time. The third Roshan raid was uninterrupted for Na'Vi as soon as he respawned. The Aegis did not stay in XBOCT's possession for long though, as Na'Vi's attempt to destroy the bottom barracks seemed unsuccessful and costed the wolf his two lives. Nonetheless, the barracks did go down in 39th minute with Funn1k being the only casualty.
AdmiralBulldog's lack of deaths started to show its effect. The 6-slotted bear had become a nuissnce for the Ukrainians, and Alliance even got the chance for a comeback. Na'Vi's final push against the top barracks was sloppy, and Alliance won a huge 4-0 fight against their opponents. XBOCT managed to retreat and tried to get sneaky and take down the fourth Roshan under Alliance's nose, but AdmiralBulldog was there to take him down, stealing Roshan as well minute 44. The momentum helped Alliance win yet another 3-0 fight a couple of minutes later, severely damaging Na'Vi's middle barracks. In the end, XBOCT's buyback proved too much for the Swedes, who lost Bulldog for the first time in the game. Lone Druid's death resulted in mega creeps and the 'GG' call by s4.
Game Two [Winner : Natus Vincere]
Na'Vi used an early-mid teamfight strategy with Doom, Puck and Centaur tri-core, while Alliance used their old buddies Phantom Lancer and Keeper of the Light. Much like the previous game, Alliance snatched the first blood before the game starts, this time by killing XBOCT. The Ukrainians used Chen and Dazzle to farm the jungle, while XBOCT went against the KotL+PL duo. Despite dying once again, XBOCT was able to use the jungle camps to regain his strength, and seemed to be unaffected by the seemingly "unbeatable" lane opponents he faced.
The remaining lanes went horribly for the Swedes. With the help of Puppey and KuroKy, Dendi's Puck dominated s4's Dragon Knight. The score was 5-2 in favor of Na'Vi when they took down the middle tier-one tower, 11 minutes into the game. The tier-two tower followed seconds later, while Dendi and Funn1k secured more kills for the Ukrainians inside the Dire jungle.
Alliance's fragile strategy started to crumble when Loda got assassinated by XBOCT and Funn1k. There was just not enough time for him to farm his Radiance, and the rest of the Swedes' heroes were too weak to support their carry. It took 15 minutes for Na'Vi to enter Alliance's base, and they even won another fight under the tier-four towers. With a score of 17-2, Alliance knew they could not get back on their feet, and forfeited the game.
Game Three [Winner : Alliance]
Alliance decided to use a similar strategy with the previous game, selecting a different Radiance carrier - Spectre. The time had come for s4 to grab his notorious Puck, facing Dendi's Invoker in the middle lane. From the beginning of the laning phase, it seemed that Dendi's Exort build was very weak against s4's continuous aggression, resulting in two solo kills for the Puck. From that point, it was very hard for Puppey and KuroKy to assist Dendi, as s4 got an impressively fast Blink Dagger. Thus, they remained top, destroying the first tier-one tower by minute 6.
With only XBOCT finding adequate farm, Na'Vi made the decision to help Dendi catch-up to s4, sending four heroes to the bottom lane, 8 minutes into the game. The big rotation resulted in an equally big teamfight, resulting in a 3-3 exchange that mostly favored the Ukrainians, as s4 went down and XBOCT scored a double-kill. Two minutes later, the same four heroes marched against Loda, taking him down along with AdmiralBulldog who teleported into Puppey's Blackhole. S4's rotation and 4-man Dream Coil turned the tides for the Swedes, turning a gank into a 4-2 trade in favor of Alliance.
The momentum built by the successful fights gave Alliance the courage to visit the Rosh pit. The positioning from Puppey and Kuroky was sloppy, and they got caught into s4's Dream Coil, instantly succumbing to Alliance's burst. The Radiant moved against Roshan, giving the Aegis to Loda. XBOCT attempted to steal the kill, and managed to slay AdmiralBulldog and remove Loda's Aegis before paying with his life.
With Roshan's demise, the game entered a period of hide and seek for the two teams, with Alliance destroying the tier-two towers one-by-one. They knew they had the upper hand, especially with . The Ukrainians made a desperate attempt to boost their teamfight capabilities before the final clash, raiding Roshan during minute 28th. Nonetheless, Alliance entered the Dire base and won a massive 4-0 fight, with XBOCT surviving only due to his Aegis. Na'Vi then called the 'GG'.
Game Four [Winner : Alliance]
For the fourth game of the series, Alliance decided to go full-on aggressive, with Slark as their main carry, s4 on Puck and AdmiralBulldog on Bounty Hunter. Na'Vi's answer was a Quas-Wex Invoker for Dendi, Gyrocopter for XBOCT and Doom for Funn1k. Alliance's aggressive trilane surprised Na'Vi, with three early kills on the supports during the first five minutes. Nonetheless, a successful bait by Puppey turned the tides for Na'Vi, securing two kills for Puppey and XBOCT.
With AdmiralBulldog hitting level six, Alliance started roaming to grab track kills here and there. Na'Vi's line-up was not strong enough during that stage of the game, resulting in a massive gold and experience lead built by the Swedes. Nonetheless, several sloppy engagements allowed the core heroes of the Dire to find farm.
Entering the 18th minute of the game, s4 managed to catch four heroes in his Dream Coil, trapping Na'Vi out of position. The result was a 5-1 fight for the Swedes, and five track kills. Puck did go down in the end, but the huge bounty from the teamfight got him closer to his Scythe of Vise.
The Swedes kept forcing fight after fight, but their overaggressiveness started being costly. An attempt against the bottom barracks during minute 26 resulting in 5-2 exchange in favor of Natus Vincere. XBOCT and Funn1k showed their late-game potential, and their shiny Black King Bars - they were not afraid of S4 anymore.
The momentum kept going back and forth, and the gold and experience graphs looked like a cardiograph. With Gyrocopter and Doom getting stronger and stronger, it seemed that Alliance could only win a fight by picking-off heroes or catching XBOCT out-of-position. This became obvious when the Ukrainians won a 4-1 fight outside the Rosh pit to secure the Aegis for XBOCT by minute 34, but lost a 3-1 clash a minute later due to yet another destructive Dream Coil.
With neither team feeling powerful enough to breach their enemies' base, the teams decided to complete their heroes' items builds before proceeding to the deciding engagements. XBOCT picked-up a Linken's Sphere to prevent Alliance's chain crowd-control and Loda's tunnel vision. Nonetheless, the 45th minute proved disastrous for the Ukrainians, as Dendi, Puppey and XBOCT were caught out-of-place and caused a 3-0 victory for Alliance. Loda's boys pushed to seal the deal, forcing a buyback out of XBOCT. S4's quick reactions caught the Gyro unprepared once again, with the Ukrainian carry going down without buyback available. This was the icing on the cake for Alliance, taking the series to a fifth game.
Game Five [Winner : Natus Vincere]
It was the time of judgement for both squads, and they both selected familiar line-ups getting into the battle. This time, Dendi got his hands on the Puck, a wise choice for the Ukrainian powerhouse as s4's Batrider got destroyed during the early stages of the game, giving unnecessary kills to Dendi - a signifact boost for the snowball hero he controlled.
With Funn1k and Dendi buying early Blink Daggers, Na'Vi played the game they wanted to play - jumping around, picking the squishy heroes of Alliance one after another. The score was 16-6 during minute 18, with Na'Vi decimating Alliance for a 4-0 exchange outside the Roshan pit.
XBOCT completed his Radiance, Dendi picked up his Dagon, and Alliance could not fight back. The Swedes kept losing the teamfights, even after a successful initiation by s4's Batrider. The 4-1 victory of Natus Vincere by minute 25th was the beginning of the end for Alliance. Two minutes later, NaVi marched inside the Dire jungle to seal the deal. S4 got picked-off, XBOCT's ultimate burned the supports' health points and AdmiralBulldog went down while trying to teleport back to the base. With a 5-0 teamfight going the way of Na'Vi, Alliance called the GG, congratulating their opponents for qualifying to the grand final.
