Cover image source: @DreamHack Dota
1437’s Tigers got their 2018-19 season off to a flying start as they took down CIS’s Na’Vi in the grand finals of the Dreamleague Season 10 Minor. The win guarantees the SEA team a spot in the Kuala Lumpur Major, along with 125,000 $ and 120 DPC points. For Na’Vi who played their first grand final in a Valve sponsored tournament since TI3, the result although heartbreaking is still positive as this was the debut of a completely new and untested roster. For their second-place finish, they get a 100 DPC points and 70,000 $.
Na’Vi started the day off well, winning the lower bracket finals over RNG 2-0. Their mid laner, Magical, stepped up with a monster Invoker performance in game 2, supported by Blizzy’s offlane Enigma in both games, as RNG were unable to come out with a solid game plan to go up against Na’Vi’s heroes.
AhJit’s Meepo gives Tiger’s an early lead - A last pick Meepo coming out of the Tigers in game 1 caught out Na’Vi by surprise. Not only did AhJit win the midlane, but he snowballed so hard, that Na’Vi had very little time to react. While the game lasted 27 minutes, it was pretty much over by 10 minutes or so as AhJit finished the game with 17 kills and 3 deaths.
Na’Vi strike back hard on the back of Blizzy’s Axe - In game’s two and 3, Na’Vi were the ones to come out on top, drafting very similar lineups, with Crystallize on the Gyrocopter, Blizzy on the Axe and Chu on the Tiny. This trio was able to come online quite early at around the 15 minute mark, allowing Na’Vi to force fights. In turn, this allowed Magical, on heroes like the Storm and TA to farm up and join fights with devastating effects and the midlaner just suffered one death across the 2 games, as Na’Vi took a 1 game lead in the series.
Moonmeander’s Pangolier too strong for Na’Vi - In game 4, Tigers used a strat they had employed earlier to beat Na’Vi in the winner bracket semifinals. The Pangolier pick for Moonmeander was a great counter to Blizzy’s Enigma and applied too much pressure around the map. The 2 time Major winner, had won his last LAN over a year ago and his last win at a Valve tournament came all the way back in 2016, but he showed just why he was so highly regarded with a super performance on the hero. His tanky build, made life difficult for the Na’Vi cores, who had to invest a lot to catch him and opened up space for Mirana and Invoker, who saw the game out for the Tigers.
We are going the distance in the @CORSAIR DreamLeague Season 10 Grand Final as @tigers_dota takes Game 4!
— DreamHack Dota (@DreamHackDota) November 4, 2018
Game 5 between @natusvincere and @tigers_dota is coming up next!#DHDreamLeague pic.twitter.com/oxRscUrJzm
Tigers blow Na’Vi’s wombo combo lineup out of the way - With everything on the line in game 5, Na’Vi answered with a strong draft that they had used quite a few times to get wins earlier in the tournament. Their strategy involved a spectacular wombo combo with a Phoenix, Treant, Void and Enigma. However, Crystallize had a very hard time in lane having to go up against, AhJit’s Mirana in lane and never managed to muster up any sort of farm in the entire game. Tigers were well prepared for the Na’Vi draft, using Moonmeander’s tanky Underlord to bait out bad teamfights as Mirana and Lina cleaned house. Chaotic and split teamfights were the name of the game for Tigers and they outplayed Na’Vi every step up of the way to take the win.
This is SEA’s third DPC win overall, with Mineski winning 2 events last season. The win puts Tigers through to the Kuala Lumpur Major, where they will now face the best of the best.
