Na’Vi advance to the Grand Finals in SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational playoffs

Na’Vi crushed LGD Gaming in the SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational playoffs. Na’Vi is the first team to advance to the Grand Finals while LGD Gaming have dropped to the lower bracket. The SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational playoffs continue tomorrow with the lower bracket finals between ViCi Gaming Reborn and LGD Gaming, at 14:00 CEST, followed by the best-of-five Grand Finals.

Dat @natusvincere play!#Dota2invitational pic.twitter.com/5RGk2WODCK

— Dota 2 SLTV (@dotasltv) April 16, 2016

The upper bracket finals rounded out a long and eventful third day at the SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational playoffs.

Under the chants and fervor of the home crowd, Na’Vi proved how far they have come in the last few weeks as a squad.

Outdrafting, outplaying and completely dominating LGD, Na’Vi have progressed to the Grand Finals and dropped the Chinese team to the lower bracket finals to face ViCi Gaming Reborn.

The first elimination series saw ViCi Gaming Reborn snuff out Virtus.Pro after a 2:1 victory. Virtus.Pro’s run has ended with a 5th-6th place finish.

The European clash between Alliance and OG was the second elimination series of the day, ending with Alliance’s departure from the event after being nudged out 1:2 by OG.

The last elimination series of the day featured ViCi Gaming Reborn facing off against OG. After both teams already won one series each earlier in the day, it was ViCi Gaming Reborn that were able to continue their streak and eliminated OG, 2:1.

SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational playoffs: Upper Bracket finals

LGD at SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational playoffs courtesy of StarLadder Flickr

Na’Vi and LGD went head to head in a heart-humping first game. Both teams were trading evenly in the early game. LGD were disciplined as usual but Na’Vi were able to come out ahead in the key engagements. Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev’s Bounty Hunter paid off well for them along with Dmitry “Ditya Ra” Minenkov’s Lycan giving so much scouting and vision. In the end, Na’Vi didn’t lose their footing or momentum and continued to move forward with strength.

The second game was a stark contrast to the first. With fantastic drafting and perfect execution, Na’Vi were confident and eager to come out of the gates swinging. In only 14 minutes, they shut down LGD Gaming, giving them nothing to work with in order to turn things around. They dominated the match from start to finish and claimed the victory to be the first team to the grand finals.

SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational playoffs: LGD Gaming 0:2 Na’Vi. Na’Vi will advance to the Grand Finals. LGD Gaming drops to the lower bracket finals.

SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational playoffs

The SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational playoffs will feature a prize pool of $100,000. The event will take place between April 14-17 at the Kiev Cybersport Arena in the Ukraine.

Eight teams will compete, including reigning champions Alliance. OG, LGD, MVP.Phoenix, Na’Vi and Virtus.Pro have been directly invited. Vega Squadron has secured the European qualifier spot and ViCi Gaming Reborn grabbed the Chinese spot through their victories in the H-Cup.

SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational playoffs participating teams

• Alliance
• OG
• LGD
• MVP.Phoenix
• Na’Vi
• Virtus.Pro
• Winner of the European qualifier – Vega Squadron
• Winner of the Chinese qualifier – ViCi Gaming Reborn

SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational playoffs schedule

Sunday, April 17

• 14:00 CEST– LGD Gaming vs. ViCi Gaming Reborn
• 17:00 CEST – Grand Finals

SL iLeague Dota 2 Invitational playoffs format

• Teams will compete in a double elimination bracket.
• All matches are best-of-three series.
• Grand Finals are best-of-five series.

Feature image courtesy of StarLadder flickr