Empire beats Na`Vi three games in a row

Beating Na`Vi three times in a row is always a merit on its own. Empire did it earlier tonight and after the games, offlaner Mag says it was a mistake for Na´Vi to let Vanskor play Dazzle in all three games.

Empire faced up against Natus Vincere three games in a row earlier today in the MLG T.K.O. Tournament. The first game was the last remaining one of the European stage one, where every team plays one game against the others. The top teams will get bonus points which will be carried into the next round. By beating Na`Vi and winning the first stage, they gained as much as two points. After that they played the very first match of stage two, in which all teams play two games against the others. Empire played those two games right away (once again versus Na`Vi) and won both of them, thus standing at four points currently and looking very solid in terms of advancing to stage three already. 

The team has been on fire for a while now and have adapted really well with the recent patch, something that right now is undeniable. Any team taking three games from Na`Vi back to back is worth noting, if they were not already. Beneath you can read a summary about the games as well as a few quotes from Andrew Chipenko, who is the captain and the offlaner of Team Empire, known as "Mag".

Stage Two -

Game 1

Empire picked a line-up they were comfortable with, with the support due Visage and Dazzle, both capable of making clutch and game deciding plays. The plan was to have Mirana control the tempo early on while Slardar just farmed his core items (Treads, Vanguard, Dagger). Na`Vi opted for the same kind of strategy, making the early game rather static. As soon as Slardar finished his mentioned core items, Empire rotated bot to quickly dispatch of the three opponent heroes there. The presence of Dendi's Storm remained seemingly small and fell to a quick gank by Empire at one point, after which they instantly took down Roshan (after 17min).

Well aware of the mid game potential of Empire, XBOCT finished Manta as his first item with Anti-Mage. Na`Vi tried to create space for XBOCT to farm but perfect responses and plays by Empire made it hard, especially when Slardar was such a super beast at this stage. Empire knew what their heroes were capable of; the pressure they put up rendered Na`Vi rather passive and despite making a few holds, they were eventually ran over by the beastly Empire squad.

>> Watch the VOD of the first game

Game 2

Once again, Empire dodged the aggressive trilane despite having a good match-up for it. Similar to the previous game their aim was to ensure a stable laning phase from which they could transition into a devastating push and ganking spree. The question was whether Na`Vi could handle it better this time. This game also had very few rotations, both teams did what they could to secure a decent early game without giving up kills in vain. An early Roshan put Na`Vi slightly ahead. From there on, with the use of Moonlight Shadow and a really early Blink Dagger on Lion, they could punish Empire for what Na`Vi had to endure the last game.

However, they let Empire get the drop on them with Silent's Fresh BKB. Na`Vi lost the fight and lost a Roshan-kill to Empire. Empire portrayed great determination and unity at this stage of the game, with perfect focus and use of abilities. Through-out the game, Puppey would normally send back whichever target gets Doomed right as it happens but it still left Na`Vi in a 4vs5 situation. Just as in the previous game, Silent kept getting bigger at an impressive rate. Na`Vi kept losing fights due to them wasting time chasing targets which would not die due to Dazzle keeping them alive. It got out of hand and suddenly the game was over.

>> Watch the VOD of the second game

Game 3

Na`Vi let Dazzle slip into the hands of Vanskor for the third time of the night, Dazzle which was the hero who constantly threw off the focus of Na`Vi where they suddenly had to commit an extra five seconds for a kill. A lot can happen in five seconds, especially when the Dazzle is as up to speed as Vanskor's is. With both teams sending their hard carries to the hard lane, they were both looking for a less static early games than those of the previous two. Na`Vi found a few successful ganks early on but there was in general some response coming right away from Empire, if not a counter kill then at least that annoying Dazzle who came in to save his team mate and waste Na`Vi's time.

With Dendi playing Lion as solo mid and Funn1k as offline clock, XBOCT's Weaver was really the only hero that could carry this late unless Na`Vi pulled off insane AA and Lion combinations which is especially hard against Lifestealer. Unfortunately for Na`Vi, XBOCT did some questionable trades where he went in too deep chasing a support, trading his life for his bounty. A rare case where Na`Vi caught Empire off-guard allowed them to claim back some ground with XBOCT picking up three kills. Empire claimed their revenge shortly after though, they refused to give up too much control.

Basically every fight fought on neutral ground was won by Empire but they still faced issues pushing into the base where the Ancient Apparition ultimate together with Lion's nukes and lockdowns proved to be too much. However, jumping deep into the base of Na`Vi, behind the barracks and successfully finding kills on key heroes such as Clock and Lion sealed the game, Na`Vi could not recover after the initiation. Empire walks away with three victories out of three possible.

>> Watch the VOD of the third game

Aftermath with captain Mag

Andrew Chipenko, more commonly known as "Mag" joined Team Empire after The International 3. He had throughout the year been semi-successful with team iCCup even if they remained an underdog in basically every single match they played. Approach at 04am his time, he said he was not tired and he is normally playing games all the way until the morning. The triple victory was only a couple of hours fresh still.

- We expected to win at least one or two games , but not three! Last time we played an official game versus Na`Vi was two month ago at least, maybe even longer.

For people following Empire the recent weeks, the drafts of the games felt very much right in their back yard. It is always important getting heroes and lanes you are comfortable with as it will make decision making easier throughout the game. However, Mag did not feel it would have been such a terrible thing to have gotten a different draft.

- We managed to get our signature heroes almost in every game, but we have actually expanded our pool of heroes lately. This helps us a lot when drafting currently. However, I don't think they should have given to us Dazzle three games in a row.

When asked if he thinks other teams should be banning Dazzle when playing against them he said that he was hoping they wouldn't. Empire are looking really solid right now, they feel ready to take on any team which is mostly because they feel right at home in the current patch.

- Finally, we have found "our game" in the new patch after our a bit of slump. The only thing I'm afraid of currently is for Earth Spirit to be added into captains mode. It will break the game!

Empire qualified for DreamLeague yesterday and are currently playing in MLG T.K.O., Dota 2 Champions League as well as joinDota League.