North American team compLexity Gaming swept through 2011 The International champions, Natus Vincere, with little resistance. Na’Vi will face against Team Secret next, while compLexity are currently trying to tie their series versus Invictus Gaming.
UPDATE (August 9):
Evil Geniuses are your TI5 champions! Grand Finals VODS, summaries, pictures and highlights: here.
Natus Vincere finished the first day of the TI5 Group Stage with two rather spiritless ties. They did, however, manage to show some promise during the two games they snatched. They chose three of the meta’s favorite heroes to stomp through Cloud 9‘s lineup. With a perfectly executed Leshrac by Danil “Dendi” Ishutin and an amazing display of talent by rising star Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev on EarthShaker, they were able to close out the game in 25 minutes. Furthermore, they managed to turn their series against MVP.Phoenix around with a fantastic second game, much due to Dendi’s 13:0:9 Shadow Fiend.
Moving into the second day of the TI5 Group Stage, Natus Vincere were positioned in the middle of Group A’s hierarchy, with two points: not ideal, but certainly encouraging.
During today’s first series, however, compLexity Gaming managed to chew their way through.
Natus Vincere took the lead early on during the first game. They began to hobble and were easily undone by a compLexity Gaming side who never gave up the cause. compLexity were able to repel Na’Vi’s early advances into the base in early mid game with a four-man wipe and give themselves some much needed space. The Americans capitalized on their advantage and pushed themselves to victory. Leaning on a good offensive line and re-committing to the run, compLexity completely shut down Natus Vincere in the second game of the series.
It’s not that Natus Vincere were clearly outdrafted that is worrying; it is the amount of obvious mechanical mistakes the Ukrainians made that raises red flags.
We should not disparage the ramifications of Na’Vi’s shaky season leading up to TI5. However, despite their glaring current lack of shape, Natus Vincere might still recover. After all, they have staged spectacular comebacks before.
Watch Dendi’s vlog recorded after Na’Vi’s first day in the TI5 Group Stage
North American team compLexity Gaming, on the other hand, have fared unexpectedly well so far. They finished the first day of the group stage with a win and a tie and began the second day with a decisive victory.
Comprised of one veteran Dota 2 player (former Fnatic player Tal “Fly” Aizik) and several well decorated former Heroes of Newerth players, compLexity’s participation in the TI5 American qualifiers almost seemed as an afterthought to many, due to their lack of experience and achievements together as a team. They are quickly turning into TI5’s Cinderella story.
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