image source: Na'Vi HoTS youtube channel
Na’Vi and Team Liquid are currently among the best teams in Europe as well as the world. The series between the two always feature breathtaking Heroes of the Storm play. The up and forth character of their games and the frequent turnarounds of fights and momentum keep the viewer involved and anticipating the next great play.
The Draft
In a bo3 series in the Loser Bracket of Enter the Storm #2, Liquid had already taken the first game and Na’Vi chose to play on Sky temple, one of the trickier battlegrounds, in order to force a tie-breaker. The picks were as follows:
Blackscorp – Illidan Breez – Muradin
Falcon – Kael’Thas JayPL – Sylvanas
GranPkt – Brightwing Splendour – Uther
Vortix – Malfuiron Ethernalbg – Jaina
LucifroN – Anub’arak Schwimpi - Stitches
The Early Game
Observing the early game we can see that none of the teams engages in pushing lanes and instead prefer to soak the xp. The focus is on the the bottom lane where Na’Vi tries to deal some damage to Liquid’s gate.
At the first temple spawn, nothing unusual happens as the teams trade one for one, with Na’Vi losing Schwimpi in the process. In order to recuperate Na’Vi try to catch Blackscorp out at Liquid’s bruiser camp, but it backfires as he gets reinforcements and Na’Vi loses 2 people in the fight. Despite this big loss, both teams still linger at an equal level 7. Liquid however proceeds to take the camp and forces a trade off as Na’Vi has to clear the top lane as the bottom temple spawns for Liquid to take it.
This is a moment in which Na'Vi are already slightly behind. In order to stay in the game, the Na’Vi team decides it is no use to contest it and instead decide to push top and soak xp in lanes. Liquid’s answer is to quickly rotate top and kill Splendour with their level 10 heroic advantage.
On the back of their two healers and their protective shield talents, Liquid keep on saving Falcon and Blackscorp and turn more and more fights around with their advantage growing bigger and bigger.
At the 6th minute Liquid has a 2 level lead and are 5:0 in kills with a fort advantage, as Na’Vi have lost their bottom fort. This is a moment that calls for improvisation, as the game is progressively swinging in Liquid's favour.
Trying to minimize the level deficit Na’Vi rotate bottom and take a gate. It does help and the level deficit is reduced to 1, but Blackscorp picks up their top fort, which on this map is a high price to pay.
A great lesson from this is that neither team loses time as they immediately answer the actions of the other with an objective across the map. For Na’Vi, who still do not have access to their level 10 heroics, this is the optimal way to stay in the game.
The Mid Game
As the temples spawn, Na’Vi immediately initiates 5v3 at bottom. GrankPKT quickly ports back to his team and along with Vortix on Malfurion keeps his allies alive while Blackscorp makes his way down to join the fight and earn 3 kills. At this point the statistics show 8:0 in terms of kills and 2:0 in terms of forts in Liquid’s favor. The level deficit is again 2 levels, with Liquid also being a level 13 talent ahead.
This allows Liquid to begin snowballing their advantage. As a result of the won fight, they take control of both the top and the bottom temple. It is important to note that GranPKT is holding the bottom one and Na’Vi is near the top one. This means that if they engage they will find themselves in another 5v5 and likely fall further behind. Instead of this the take the bruiser camp and soak some xp in hope for their fortune to turn around.
At this point Liquid gets aggressive and wants to snowball their lead even harder. To do so they take down Schwipmi on his immobile Stitches on the bot lane, which translates into a Boss. Na’Vi are aware that Liquid are at Boss, but again decide to commit to a smarter move and instead of rushing into a team that is about to get level 16, Na’Vi go top and trade Boss for fort. Despite the fact that this is a rather small trade, it is of paramount importance for Na’Vi to take something for the Boss. Not backing on time however leaves them vulnerable to the Liquid onslaught coming at them and resulting in a 3 member wipe.
The situation does not look bright as Na’Vi are foced to watch their bottom lane fall to a Boss and a Siege camp. The game reached a point in which no one believes in an eventual Na'Vi win.
As a result of the fight and the Boss control, Liquid get a monster lead at 12:40 - 12:0 in kills, an almost 3 level lead, with a level 16 advantage, has swept all Na’Vi forts, and took a bottom and middle keep through temple control.
The End Game
Liquid, having lost only one fort, can just wait out the game to finish itself. This dark picture is no reason to lose hope though and Na’Vi keep doing the right things as they hit level 16 and get an essential brief window in which Liquid has no talent lead.
As Na’Vi see the middle temple spawn, they soak to level 17 for some extra beefiness. The next fight is the fight for the game.
Taking a look at the bottom lane we can see GranPKT on Brighwing pushing it out, while the rest of Liquid take the temple. Everything has led to this moment of truth. Na'Vi has nothing to lose and is about to make a move.
In this small window of time, Na'Vi manage to get their first kills of the game on Falcon and Blackscorp before Brightwing manages to join the fight. In addition to that, Na’Vi take down LucifroN too and have 50 seconds to make the run of their lives. Everyone expects them to take the middle keep and deal some damage to the core. GranPKT decides to push the middle lane instead of defend, since he himself sees no way that Na'Vi can end this. With a monster pusher like Sylvanas though, Na’Vi takes keep and has 30 seconds to take down the core. Liquid are forced to watch their core go down as GranPKT comes back too late and the game finishes at 16:01 with a 13:3 lead in kills, 5:3 lead in forts and 2 level lead for Liquid on the losing side. Na'Vi has done it.
No matter how behind they were, in each moment of the game Na’Vi analyzed the situation and took the right choice that brought them to that last fight without a talent disadvantage that they won. Up until this game Team Liquid had dominated their encounters against Na'Vi. A lot of people contribute the way it played out to luck, but there was more than that. Liquid met a team that managed to close out the game after defeating them in just one team fight. Traditionally amazing in team fights, this is something that just doesn't happen to them. Their next encounters proved that this game wasn't just a coincidence and Liquid finally found a worthy rival for the European throne.
For more great action make sure the follow the Enter the Storm #3 qualifiers as well as the finals, now featuring an even bigger prize pool that the top European teams will fight for.
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