Cover-Credits:
It took Team Spirit a lot of hard work to take a 2-1 series win against Natus Vincere (NAVI) in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Eastern Europe (EEU) 2021-22 Tour 1: Division 1. Few were expecting NAVI to offer stiff competition considering its recent form, but the team came up with some strong strategies and displayed crisp gameplay. After winning a hard-fought 70 minute game one, NAVI gave its all to win one out of the next two games in the series, yet the tenacity of Team Spirit was just too strong to overcome. Team Spirit is on a five-series winning streak in the DPC and is well positioned to qualify for the first Major of the season.
Team Spirit vs NAVI: Match Recap and Highlights
Recap
Game 1 was absolutely incredible to watch. NAVI, on the back of superior lane matchups, found a lot of kills and kept this aggression up throughout the entire game. Team Spirit, however, by mastering the map to perfection, managed to stay afloat in terms of networth for the majority of the game. Whenever it appeared that NAVI had the game in the bag, Team Spirit would come back with flawless spellcasting and extremely clever itemization. As Team Spirit made NAVI toil for the win, a game that should have been over within 30 minutes lasted a total of 72 minutes.
Game 2 had a farm-oriented laning phase, with no kills in the first 10 minutes, but it was Team Spirit that extracted the resources better than its counterparts. Its supports had established a tremendous advantage by stacking the Triangle for TORONTOTOKYO's Templar Assassin, who got to some great item timings. NAVI realized it couldn't engage in a teamfight, so it split pushed, and prolonged the game. While Team Spirit had to scramble on occasion for kills and objectives, it eventually won in 41 minutes.
Like game 2, game 3 saw Team Spirit flourish in all three lanes. This led to NAVI being on the back foot early in the game, however, the team was able to strike back with some essential core kills and also failed to make space for V-Tune's Phantom Lancer. It looked like NAVI had turned things around in a teamfight near the Roshan pit after which it also obtained an Aegis, but Team Spirit artfully fought back into the Aegis and won the game in 40 minutes.
Highlights
Here are some highlights of the series.
Today was the first time that Team Spirit was truly tested in the DPC 2021-22. After losing the first game, it appeared that NAVI had been able to pull the game back into its favor at several points during the second and third games but Team Spirit kept its cool to close them out.
The series loss means that NAVI's veterans will now face a very hard road on their way to the Major, but in the past couple of series against HellRaisers and Team Spirit, the only two undefeated teams in the DPC EEU league so far, NAVI have really stepped up their game. A few more adjustments here and there might be all that the team needs to find its best form along with the required momentum.
NAVI’s next series in the DPC will be against AS Monaco Gambit on 13th Jan 2022 while Team Spirit plays HellRaisers on 16th Jan.
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