Natus Vincere vs The Pango/Team Empire – WePlay! Tug of War: Radiant

WePlay! Tug of War: Radiant will be held from February 26 to March 2. 12 teams will compete for $ 50 thousand. The championship entered the unannounced series of competitions, the winners of which will perform at the LAN tournament from the studio.

Tournament participants will be sown in single-elimination grids with matches up to two wins i.e. following the best-of-three format. Two teams each will start their performance from the semifinals, the rest from the quarterfinals. The finals of each division will be held in the best-of-5 format, and the grand finale between the winners will be the best-of-7.

Having enlisted all the rules and format, now we will tell why we picked up this game for the analysis. It is between teams, Natus Vincere against The Pango / Team Empire. The CIS team is looking to make a mark in the competitive circuit of the game. Over the past years, the Na’Vi side has had its fair share of struggles and would love to change its fortunes. This match might not be one of the most decisive ones but winning this encounter will surely be one step to glory.

Natus Vincere vs The Pango / Team Empire (WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Radiant, Semifinals, February 27, 2019, Best Of Three)

Natus Vincere

Less than 24 hours ago Natus Vincere has revealed that the CIS side will not participate in the closed European qualifying ESL One Mumbai 2019 for Dota 2. The organization made this decision because of the busy tournament schedule. Now they will be competing in the WePlay! Tug of War: Radiant.

Natus Vincere, also known as Na’Vi is one of the most decorated and prestigious teams of the competitive Dota 2. However, over the years the team has declined, being only one of the few teams to lift The International back in 2011 and reaching the finals of the following ones. However, since those days we haven’t seen the dominance of the side. The team that once hosted some of the best names like Puppey and Kuroky have failed to establish itself. They even failed to secure qualifications to some of the TIs. Owing to the unsuccessful endeavors of the team in the past years, the organization had plenty of roster changes. In early 2018, they even dropped one of their most talented and veteran player, Dendi to the inactive roster, and picked up Idan “MagicaL” Vardanyan. Let’s have a look at the young starlet and how he has contributed to the resurrection of Na’Vi:

The Success with MagicaL

In 2018, Idan MagicaL Vardanyan made an even more incredible leap to his career. From playing in teams like yellow submarine and Effect, he went straight to Natus Vincere. But it only happened four years after the first performance at a professional tournament. As Vardanyan himself noted, he was in this team only thanks to Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev and his position in the top 60 rankings.

Rollercoaster ride for Na’Vi

The team began the season with a defeat in the qualifiers for The Kuala Lumpur Major. Many began to doubt the beginning of a new era, but NaVi got a slot on the minor without any problems and reached the final. However, they failed to beat the Tigers in the match for reaching the major. The next series of qualifications for the DPC tournaments were again unsuccessful: they had a DDoS attack on The Chongqing Major, and at the Bucharest Minor they simply didn’t pose much of a fight against Team Empire Hope. But after a couple of weeks, NaVi again made its way to the finals – the team sensationally beat Virtus.Pro first and then PSG.LGD on MegaFon Winter Clash. Although Team Liquid won the competition, it was all MagicaL show till the end.

For the successor of Danil Dendi, Ishutin Vardanyan copes quite well and does everything according to the precepts of the master. He does not lose and often wins the mid lane. The best hero of MagicaL is the Templar Assassin, on which most middle-lane opponents are really easy to beat. With patch 7.20, Outworld Devourer began to appear more often in the pool of the new star of NaVi, in which he exhibited great potential, however sometime later OD did receive an incredible nerf hammer. After the MegaFon Winter Clash, the team has improved. Na’Vi finished 2nd at the DreamLeague Season 11 CIS Qualifier which is enough for the side to get a ticket to the main event that will be hosted under the DPC regulations. In early February, the team finished WePlay! Dota 2 Valentine Madness at 2nd so Nav’t looks all set and ready to face the opponents.

Na’Vi all the way!

Both teams, The Pango / Team Empire have a decent lineup and by the looks of it, both don’t hold much of a candle against Na’Vi. Na’Vi might not be the best team in the world at the moment but they have shown sparks of decent performances. Coming up victorious against teams like VP and PSG.LDG means Na’Vi might what it takes to beat decent teams and The Pango / Team Empire are far from decent sides. Natus Vincere will be surely looking to see off any side it will face with ease. Since Pango was just formed a few months ago and even though they manage to get some results every now and then, they don’t have the potential to cause problems for the established sides. Meanwhile, Empire has gone so many changes like another Chinese side Newbee that they are yet to find a team that can be labeled as a tier 2 team. Therefore, with both opponents struggling, we pick Na’Vi and Magical to win this game.

Final Verdict

Natus Vincere Victory

Odds to be announced soon