Guess who’s back, back again?
Na’Vi’s back, tell a friend!
Guess who’s back,
guess who’s back,
guess who’s back,
guess who’s back,
guess who’s back,
guess who’s back…
Back in 2013, I got into watching Dota 2 after a steep learning curve. Back then, the team to watch was Ukraine’s Natus Vincere (Na’Vi). The combo of dendi’s amazing middle skills, XBOCT’s aggressive carry, Funn1k’s offlane battling, puppey’s captain skills and KuroKy’s support made for great games to watch, and Na’Vi’s strange drafts and extremely aggressive play only added to the experience.
They earned the title of the “Asian Dota 2 counter“. Their crazy and fast-paced strategies were very difficult for the usual slow, controlled farming of many Asian Dota 2 teams. Na’Vi’s peak was coming in second place in The International 2013, against Swedish team Alliance.
Through 2014 and 2015, Na’Vi did not do well. Now, however, things are finally looking up — after letting go of every player except Dendi. NaVi started to rebuild bringing back captain Artstyle that led them to first place in the very first International in 2011. The support player SoNNeikO and carry Ditya Ra were picked up after their old team Power Rangers lost funding. The last player to be added was off-laner GeneRal in February of 2016. Through a combination of new blood, balance changes and momentum NaVi are back to their iconic extremely aggressive play style. Na’Vi finished second in the StarLadder i-League Invitational and took home $20,000, and just last night got an invite for the Manila Major in June.
But with Dota 2 patch 6.87 released, we will have to wait and see if Na’Vi can keep the magic going.
Patrick Algeo is a Contributor to AYBOnline.com.
