D2CL presents : El clásico

The first semi-final of DotA2 Champions' League will add another chapter to the story of the rivalry between Alliance and Natus Vincere. The recent results slightly favor Na'Vi, but Dota 2's version of "el clásico" is always unpredictable.

This is the beginning of the end for DotA2 Champions League, with the first semi final between the two most financially succesful teams of the West - Alliance and Natus Vincere. The best-of-five match will determine the first finalist of the tournament, the second being the winner of the match between Cloud9 and Team Empire.

The matches between Na'Vi and Alliance are always heavily anticipated, especially after their natural rivarly created by the conclusion of The International 3. With the huge amount of followers and supporters behind the two teams, the match is often referred to as the 'el clásico' of DotA2 (a characterization first used for the football battle between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the biggest teams in Spain).

The Ukrainian powerhouse has a small historic advantage coming into this match, having won six out of eleven recent encounters, leaving five for Alliance. However, three of Na'Vi's victories were in best-of-five matches (StarLadder playoffs, WePlay playoffs, DreamLeague playoffs) so they have the slight edge. The current distance between  the two teams is minimal, considering we are talking about two squads with over 75% total winrate in their official match record. 

Both teams have been going very well in their matches this year, with Natus Vincere being 7-3 in their 10 recent matches and Alliance being 8-2. They have both adapted in 6.80 meta game with notable ease, especially Alliance who will now be switching back to their original drafter, Gustav 's4' Magnusson, to add a bit more diversity to their hero line-ups for the following months leading to The International 4. 

The real issue for Natus Vincere is their lack of recent matches, as their previous encounter was Alliance back in March 12th, while Alliance have played 14 matches since then. The break for Natus Vincere came with XBOCT and Funn1k going abroad for some commitments in Dubai, while Dendi attended the Free To Play premiere in San Fransisco. It remains to be seen whether Na'Vi will be affected by their lack of practice today.

The match between Na'Vi and Alliance will take place today at 16:30 CET. Live broadcasting will be provided on Dailymotion by joinDOTA in English and Aren 'VeRsuta' Zarubyan in Russian.

Photo: EMS One