Na’Vi’s winding road to The International 6 Lower Brackets

The International 6 Group Stage has concluded and Na’Vi is among the eight teams that will compete in the Lower Bracket of the Main Event. Taking a look back at their run through the Group Stage, Na’Vi’s blitzkrieg tactics have proven to be efficient but unreliable.

Na’Vi must now fight to remain in the tournament. They will face Team Liquid in the gruesome best-of-one opening round of the Lower Brackets, on August 8th.

UPDATE (August 13th):

TI6 final standings, updates and highlights – HERE

The past three days have been full of thrilling, high-octane matches, showcasing some of the finest competitive Dota 2 in the land.

The 16 competing teams have put up a great show in the chase for victory points, as they fought to be among the top four teams within their groups and be seeded into the Main Event’s Upper Bracket.

Unfortunately, eight teams failed to get assume top four positions and must now prepare to fight each day like it was their last, in The International 6 Lower Brackets.

Among them, Na’Vi, who ranked 6th in their group after a series of performances that swung from one end to another.

Aggressiveness was the name of the game for Na’Vi. They did manage to outshine some of the teams in their group, thanks to their fast and sometimes surgical approach. They even managed to deliver some of the final blows in under 20 minutes. In the end, it wasn’t enough.

Na’Vi’s early push towards the Lower Bracket – Na’Vi vs. Escape Gaming

Going into the Group Stage, Na’Vi had their first series against Escape Gaming. The two-game series seemed to go in Escape’s favor, as they opted for a push-oriented lineup, while Na’Vi hoped to secure the late game with Ember Spirit and Lifestealer.

The tides turned going into the second match, both teams reversing their drafting strategies, which lead to Na’Vi’s slow and continuous march towards the Radiant Ancient. As towers started to fall left and right, Escape Gaming began to lose grasp of the game, in the face of the Na’Vi ever-growing snowball.

The continuous ganks from Na’Vi kept Escape’s cores under pressure and in check, while paving the way for the final push. Going into the second quarter of the match, Na’Vi had already set up camp in front of Escape Gaming’s tier 3 tower and were threatening to go beyond it, unto the Ancient. As the 19 minute mark was closing in, Na’Vi were unhindered in their push, forcing Escape to call “GG” and end the match-up with a tie.

The Fault in our Strats – Na’Vi vs. Evil Geniuses

Na’Vi’s second match-up against EG would highlight their heavy reliance on early game dominance. With Nature Prophet going to EG, Na’Vi continued to draft their Drow and Oracle, but the lineup was shaping up to be a jack of all trades.

Once again, Na’Vi’s supports began to rotate in hopes of securing early kills and lane dominance, but these came with the price of their lives. Although EG was under constant pressure, they always managed to trade a kill in return, slowing down the enemy’s growth.

As kills began to trade more and more into EG’s favor, Na’Vi lost their momentum. With pressure mounting for Na’Vi, they started to mistakes that ultimately led to a disappointing 0-2 defeat for the Ukrainian team.

A Battle of Underdogs – Na’Vi vs. TnC

After a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of EG, Na’Vi managed to slowly recover, thanks to their victory against TnC Pro Gaming. Once again, Na’Vi opened up with a balanced draft, to test the waters.

Visibly shaken by their previous loss, Na’Vi traded a significant amount of kills with the SEA team, as they attempted to secure their early game advantage. Luckily for Na’Vi, TnC failed to capitalize on their mistakes, ultimately offering them a grace period to grow. On top of all of these, TnC’s faulty positioning and inability to secure the necessary farm further pushed the odds against them.

TnC began to stabilize in the second game, despite another early game fiasco. As Na’Vi was gaining momentum, Raven’s Tinker managed to secure two kills for TnC – kills that were closely followed by two more. With the comeback gold settling in, TnC began to recover and chase Na’Vi all around the map. In the end, one final mistake cost Na’Vi the game.

El Clásico – Na’Vi vs. Alliance

The second day of the Group Stage saw Na’Vi clashing once again with Alliance, in another “El Clásico” match-up. Unfortunately for Na’Vi, things began to go south at a rapid rate. Alliance have proven once again to be the indisputable champions at ratting out their opponents and capitalizing on early mistakes. They took the first game of the series in less than 28 minutes.

The second game showcased an amazing Level 1 Roshan pick by Alliance, at the mere expense of s4’s Puck. With the Aegis in the bag, Alliance began to steamroll over Na’Vi towers, obliterating any hero in their path.

Na’Vi managed to stop the bleeding early on, but the slow process of recovery gave Alliance enough room to grow – the Swedes were leading the networth charts by 7k. One final showdown at Na’Vi’s T2 cleared the path for Alliance to pour down onto the T3 and racks, forcing Na’Vi to tap out after 34 minutes of intense fighting.

The Comeback – Na’Vi vs. LGD Gaming

They might have started off with a defeat, but the second day of the Group Stage was the platform for one of Na’Vi’s best performances during this event – their series against LGD Gaming.

A spectacular comeback, in the second game of the series, propelled Na’Vi beyond the networth of a fully farmed Alchemist. Ditya Ra’s Drow Ranger in conjuncture with Sonneiko’s Beastmaster finished off the greedy, overextending Alchemist, and Na’Vi came out on top with a 2-0 victory.

Doubling-down on victory – Na’Vi vs. Wings Gaming

With only four points total after their series against LGD, Na’Vi needed to maximize their efforts in the third day of the Group Stage and get as many points as they could before facing the OG behemoth. Na’Vi doubled-down on their previous 2-0 victory in their series versus Wings Gaming.

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Both teams started off strong but, Na’Vi managed to get the upper hand each time. Wings called an early 15-minute GG in the first game. Na’Vi did not falter and secured another win, in 34 minutes.

The Final Battle – Na’Vi vs. OG

In their final Group Stage match-up, Na’Vi had to take on the Manila Major champions, although all odds were stacked against them. Na’Vi managed to put up a good fight, taking early game kills and securing farm. Unfortunately those proved to be only minor setbacks for OG, who began to outmaneuver and outfarm Na’Vi.

Miracle-’s top notch plays on Slark and Morphling, respectively, played a big part in OG’s stellar performances throughout both games.

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Despite Na’Vi’s best efforts, OG secured a swift 2-0 victory, further pushing their claim on the first position in Group A.

The International 6

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The International is the annual Dota 2 tournament hosted by Valve Corporation. The International made its debut in August 2011, with a total prize pool of $1.6 million.

Last year’s event, The International 5, took place between August 3rd-8th at the KeyArena – a multi-purpose arena in Seattle, Washington, with a maximum capacity of over 17,000. The Dota 2 community contributed with a staggering $16,829,613 to the $1.6 million base prize pool, making the total prize fund of almost $18,429,613 million the largest in esports history at that time. The International titleholder is North-American team Evil Geniuses.

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This year’s main event will take place at the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington, between August 8th-13th. All 16 participating teams will advance to the main event and will receive a share of the TI6 prize pool.

The International 6 prize pool has outpaced The International 5 one from the very beginning. As of July 27th, the total TI6 prize pool has already broken last year’s record, thus becoming the largest in esports history.

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