Manila Major: Na’Vi bounce back, Alliance eliminated

Na’Vi got Alliance eliminated, 2:1, in the second round of the Manila Major Lower Brackets. Alliance are the sixth team to be knocked out of contention in the main event. The Swedish team will walk away with $45,000. Na’Vi will face Team Liquid in the third round of the Lower Brackets, on June 10th, at 04:00 CEST.

The highly anticipated El Clásico matchup between Alliance and Na’Vi was met with much enthusiasm and hype. Over 400,000 fans tuned in to watch the series on the English and Russian streams. According to TrackDota, the 2nd game between Alliance and Na’Vi was watched by over 2.2 million people overall, including the Chinese and all other language streams.

The two old school teams had faced each other 56 times in the past and were tied going into the series. One of them would take the lead by the time it was all over.

After months marred with turmoil, instability and sub-par performances, both teams had finally reignited their former fame and results. Alliance reformed their winning TI3 roster in December 2015, while Na’Vi solidified their new roster of new and veteran players in February.

Both teams have enjoyed a rise in their results and brought fans some spectacular games and memorable moments.

Na’Vi started the playoffs in the upper brackets after a flawless record in the group stage, 4:0. They dropped to the lower brackets after suffering a 2:0 loss to OG in the first round.

Alliance had started in the brutal best-of-one lower brackets after placing third in their group with a 4:4 record. They then overcame the local favorites – Mineski, to advance further in the lower brackets.

In the Manila Major lower brackets matchup, Na’Vi overpowered Alliance. The CIS team came from a one-game deficit, after falling to Alliance in game 1. Their following two games featured some spectacular plays, great coordination and fantastic positioning to capitalize on and punish any mistakes made by Alliance. Na’Vi’s aggressive style would prevail in the end.

The CIS team saw Alliance eliminated and claimed their spot in the lower brackets round 3.

The Manila Major standings: Na’Vi vs. Alliance

During the first game of the series, Na’Vi secured first blood with an on point rotation by Ivan “Artstyle” Antonov. As expected the game was evenly matched with back and forth exchanges and swings. After an attempt by Na’Vi to push the bottom tower, they ended up losing their momentum and Alliance shortly later smoked, landed a few kills and took Roshan. The Swedish team were then able to continue towards the Na’Vi base and after a few attempts, successfully took the barracks and ended the game. Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg had a fantastic game on BroodMother, topping the net-worth charts with more than 10k gold lead over Na’Vi.

© DotaBuff

In the second match, Na’Vi went in with a full fighting lineup and Alliance went with a full split push lineup, including a Naga Siren for Jonathan “Loda” Berg. Alliance took an early lead until about 15 minutes when Na’Vi took a great team fight and turned the tides on them. At Roshan around minute 29, Alliance took the cheese and the Aegis out from under the CIS team. A few good fights by Na’Vi helped them to regain their ground and take back their earlier lead to tie up the series 1:1 and force a deciding game 3.

© DotaBuff

The last game of the series featured Gustav “s4” Magnusson on Queen of Pain, Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg on Furion for Alliance, with Na’Vi taking up Invoker for Danil “Dendi” Ishutin. The CIS team was able to apply lots of pressure on the Swedish team, taking objectives, favorable fights, superb map vision and control and heavy farming. A team wipe at minute 32 would further Na’Vi’s lead even more.

© DotaBuff

Manila Major standings: Na’Vi 2:1 Alliance. Na’Vi advance in the Lower Brackets after seeing Alliance eliminated.

Manila Major

The Manila Major – the third and final Major this season in advance of The International 2016 – is produced by PGL, with the main event scheduled to take place between June 7-12 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines. Sixteen teams will compete over six days in a double elimination tournament.

Europe has six teams at the Manila Major, followed by China with four teams, the Americas and Southeast Asia with three representatives each.

Wings Gaming, compLexity Gaming, Alliance, Mineski, Evil Geniuses, Team Secret have already been eliminated.