Day three at the Beyond the Summit house opened with two elimination series. After DC secured their survival in the tournament it was Na’Vi ‘s turn to face the Greeks from Ad Finem to decide who will continue their Summit quest.
Game One:
Despite an odd draft, to say the least, with four melee heroes lead in battle by Faceless Void with his Chronosphere, Ad Finem miraculously managed to drag the first game to 73 minutes while playing against a well rounded crowd control line-up.
Not only did the Greek draft have almost no synergy at all but unfortunately for them, Xaris 'SkyLark' Zafiriou probably had one of his worst competitive days of his life. His Chronos were almost always off the mark, catching more of his teammates than enemies or at times being totally wasted with zero heroes caught. Despite all this and the fact Faceless Void, for most of the game, was the last one on the net worth chart, Ad Finem engaged very often in teamfights.
Around the 36 minute mark, Ad Finem took an advantageous three for one kill trade focusing first on Na’Vi’s Terrorblade and were the first to take a tier three tower along with the melee barracks. However, as they respawned, both Na’Vi supports got big and unexpected items. Crystal Maiden completed an Ethereal Blade while Darkseer bought a full Scythe of Vyse. From there on, the game resumed with push/counter push attempts with a few breaks when a Roshan kill was possible. The Greeks always prioritized the Roshan objective and placed the Aegis on Juggernaut three times in a row but as the game got past the 60 minute mark everything came down to who had the better nerves and in the end it was Na’Vi who won the strategic mind games.
Game Two:
For the second game of the series Na’Vi removed the annoying Riki with their first ban and started their draft with a Sandking pick that might have mislead Ad Finem into reading it according to the first game when it was played mid lane by Danil 'Dendi' Ishutin. But Na’vi had other plans and let Victor 'GeneRaL' Nigrini handle it in the offlane while they continued to toy with Ad Finem’s minds with a fourth pick Ember Spirit only to choose their mid lane hero last, in the form of a Juggernaut.
The Greek game plan for fast lane push, developed around Darkseer and Death Prophet, was easily shut down with an Oracle and Na’Vi went for a fast paced game, disallowing Ad Finem to execute their strategy.
Only 10 minutes into the game Na’Vi was leading with a 10-3 kill score and pushed down all the tier one towers on the back of rushed BoTs on Ember. Forced to play from behind, Ad Finem went for a desperate Roshan kill at the 20 minute mark and secured the Aegis before Na’Vi arrived in the Pit. However, a few moments later Dmitry 'Ditya Ra' Minenkov killed them all in the team fight that erupted outside the pit and locked in the first Rampage of the tournament.
Although Ad Finem managed to win a teamfight in their own jungle, taking down three from the Na’Vi side without any casualties, which could have potentially marked a first step towards recovery, the Ukrainian squad didn’t allow them to ride the momentum and went for one GG push to end the game around the 30 minute mark.
With their loss against Na’Vi, Ad Finem are eliminated from the Summit 5 while the Ukrainians will move on and face Fnatic in the second round of the lower bracket.
Na’Vi vs Fnatic series is scheduled for July 16th, 22:00 CEST.
