In the final series of day one of the Starladder i-League DotA invitational we saw Natus Vincere take on OG. With both teams struggling to find solid form, OG and Na'Vi looked to give themselves a nice platform to build from again.
Despite OG losing form following their Major win last year, they're definitely still a strong contender in all tournaments, but going up against a Natus Vincere who are seemingly on the come-back path proved to be an interesting challenge for them.
Game One
With both teams looking to play very aggressive DotA, the game seemed like it would be very balanced. Lots of kills were traded in the early game and the net worth graphs were fairly even. However, coming up to the ten minute point, Na’Vi pushed down the bot tier one tower and then turned their attention to mid, pushing the score to 9-5 in their favour. Na’Vi claimed the game’s first Roshan and now looked to take map control.
Twenty minutes later the game was still rather even, with Na’Vi having pushed a tier two tower bot and now looking towards the second Roshan in the game. With a back and forth dance around the Rosh pit, suddenly Na’Vi completely wiped OG and lost nobody - then followed this up by pushing the mid tier two and securing an aegis for Daniel 'Dendi' Ishutin. The match had swung firmly in Na’Vi’s favour at this point.
Na’Vi ended up getting completely wiped while trying to push high ground botlane, pulling the game back for OG, but not bringing it even at all. Natus Vincere seemed to want to end the game as quickly as possible, but OG didn't let that happen without a fight. After around ten minutes of Na’Vi farming and OG defending their base, Roshan number three was claimed by Na’Vi and they looked to try another high ground push. On the back of two kills, they dropped the bottom lane rax and turned to mid.
With the game heading through a very slow phase, and OG stuck in their base, Na’Vi continued to stack up items that would help them end the game in one swift push. The only thing the Dire side are awaiting is the next Roshan and then they looked as though they would head for an attempted game ending push. With the double cheese on Na’Vi, they pusedh top and forced the GG from OG. Na’Vi took game one after forty five minutes.
Game Two
The early game this time looked to be going more in OG’s favour. As we headed past the ten minute mark in game two, OG held the advantage - 8 kills to 4 up. OG took the first Roshan at fifteen minutes, pushing their advantage further. This game showed a very different side of Na’Vi than the one we saw in game one - not looking for fights but as soon as Na’Vi smoked and attempted to get a pick off, they lost four as OG brought their entire team to the fight and lose none.
Soon after twenty minutes, Na’Vi once again look to take a fight and it started off well for them, but OG turned the fight around, cutting their loses. However, OG took a second Rosh and headed towards the high ground mid, and seemed to be in control of the game completely, taking down the mid tier three tower. With a push down mid, OG rolled through Na’Vi and forced out the GG, tying the series at 1-1.
Game Three
As game three begins, Na’Vi looked to play like they did in game one, being very aggressive – with Victor 'General' Nigrini picking up his famous Batrider, but they play too aggressively and lost four heroes without taking any down. Before ten minutes had passed, OG had taken an aegis, but Na’Vi managed to get the last hit on Roshan with the Lycan wolves – the score sitting at 6-11 in OG’s favour as ten minutes rolls past.
With OG seeming to have an advantage, they pushed down mid but Na’Vi took a massive fight, swinging the entire game in their favour, giving them complete control of the map and game. With the second Roshan coming up, both teams started to look towards taking this objective. Na’Vi started pushing down top and mid and end up running through three of OG’s heroes and grabbed Roshan. As thirty minutes closed in, Na’Vi had complete control of the game, forcing OG to stay in their base and find minimal farm – the score being 20-14 in Na’Vi’s favour. As the clock ticked past thirty minutes, Na’Vi dropped four of OG’s heroes and pushed down mid, looking to take the tier three mid tower, but moved back to take Roshan and the third aegis. OG attempted to contest this Roshan but again lost four and took nothing with them.
Thirty five minutes in and Na’Vi pushed down all three rax, taking game three and winning the series 2-1. Natus Vincere have now been able to "slay" the two teams who have won Majors, Team Secret during DotA Pit and now OG.
