Cover-Credits:
Eastern European team Darkside featuring former BetBoom Team players like Akbar "SoNNeikO" Butaev and Vladimir "RodjER" Nikogosian as well as Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev defeated NAVI in its debut match at the Dota Pro Circuit 2023 (DPC 2023). Both Eastern European teams had strong showings in a series that went the distance. NAVI stomped the first game, but Darkside turned it around in the next two games to secure a 2-1 victory and take an early lead in the DPC points table.
Darkside vs NAVI: Match Recap and Highlights
Recap:
Game 1 saw Alik "V-Tune" Vorobey have a picture-perfect game on his Drow Ranger as he dominated the laning phase, racing off to an early net-worth lead and setting himself up for success in the mid-game phase. Darkside’s Sven pick for RAMZES666 simply did not work out, as he failed to find too much farm and eventually crumbled to the overwhelming damage output of V-Tune’s Drow in the later stages of the game. NAVI secured an early 1-0 lead and was firmly poised to take the series.
But RAMZES666 replied in kind with a stellar performance on his Morphling in the second game. The player was all over the map, cleaning up for his team whilst farming himself to easily out-farm the opposing Vtune Lifestealer. With RodjER’s Tiny decimating the opponent lineup with his incredible initiations, NAVI simply could not answer back and conceded the game.
The third game was a lot more even than the first two games. But NAVI seemed to have the edge in the mid-game until a devastating fight near the Roshan pit, completely handed the advantage to Darkside who secured the win and the series.
Highlights:
With this win, Darkside moves to the top of the table alongside HellRaisers who had also won its opening series. On the other hand, NAVI joins Nemiga Gaming at the bottom of the table. However, it’s still early days and anything can happen through the course of the Eastern European DPC 2013.
