In another clash after Na'Vi's defeat at the D2L Western Challenge Final, EG dispatched the legendary Ukrainian team without losing a game. The Americans continue their hot streak and will face up against Fnatic in the Semi Final later today.
1st - $80,000+
2nd - $40,000+
3rd-4th - $20,000+
5th-8th - 
mousesports, 
Vici Gaming, 
Cloud9, 
Natus Vincere - $10,000+
Game One
EG draft a good team fight based line up with Enigma and Tidehunter as the first two picks, which they have nearly flawless records on in the current patch. They followed these picks up with Wraith King and Razor to add to their damage output with a Storm Spirit to add even more control to the game. Na’Vi answered the EG draft with a fairly greedy line up, looking to out last the EG team fight and win in the late game. The Doom and Nature’s Prophet particularly aim to split up and control fights to try and deal with the five on five potential of EG.
Na’Vi managed to take first blood with a good rotation from the jungle Doom and offlane Nature’s Prophet on Arteezy at mid, but EG answered very quickly by moving Enigma and Wratih King to the Dire offlane. They took 3 quick kills and pushed the Radiant tier one tower down. After the first blood, Dendi’s once feared Invoker made very little impact early on whilst EG kept pushing and forcing their advantage.
The Americans accrued an early 5000 gold lead by pushing with Enigma and Razor, taking every outer tower just past the 20 minutes mark. They used their strong early ultimates from Enigma and Tidehunter to take control of the whole map without actually having to take a team fight. A problem for Na’Vi was the huge farm from zai’s Enigma, who was allowed to have free reign of his jungle and actually topped the net worth chart for most of the game.
EG tried to push in at 28 minutes, taking a fight at Na’Vi bottom tier three tower, but Na’Vi actually took the fight after a drawn out engagement. They tried to regain some map control by pushing in to the Dire top tier two. However, the EG lead was overwhelming. They kept their cool and won the game patiently, slowly and clinically.
Game 2
Perhaps unexpectedly, EG open the draft with an Io/Tiny first two picks. EG don’t have a particularly renowned Io player, but the combination is still a strong start. They face up against Dendi’s Puck at mid, whilst Puppey is given his tried and tested Chen. Na’Vi also choose the recently under-picked Anti Mage, which is strong against Wraith King, to look to go into the late game again where they failed last game. Puppey drafted more of a classic Na’Vi line up to face up against the contemporary patch EG heroes.
The second game started with some smart play from EG by warding the Dire jungle to try and shut down Chen, but Puppey out did himself by taking first blood on Io with a Harpy creep! He found farm around the map and rotated cleverly to tackle the EG mid lane, managing to lock in an early lead in the laning phase.
EG took a crucial trade at 18 minutes picking off Xboct before he completed Manta Style, then forcing him to buyback whilst taking the top tier one. Na’Vi took Roshan, but the trade was bad for them, which let EG back into the game. After a dominant early game this trade almost solely allowed EG to try and make up their deficit.
The game continued very evenly after this point and became an extremely tense and tactical affair. This atmosphere arguably favoured EG more than Na’Vi, as they used the incredible pushing power of Tiny to force a drawn out split push. A few crucial slip-ups from Na’Vi meant that EG could take the mid lane barracks and ultimately the game. One over extension from Xboct and slight lapse in judgement from Na’Vi at bottom lane was the difference between a win and a loss.
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