Na’Vi Drops to the Lower Bracket of Eastern Europe’s TI 10 Qualifiers

The Eastern European qualifier for The International 10 is getting close to the end and two teams are clearly stronger than the rest. These teams are Spirit and HellRaisers. In theory, Natus Vincere should have been the big favorite but unfortunately for their fans, they lost their second match in the Upper Bracket and will now have to win 4 matches in a row to qualify for TI.

The International 10: Eastern Europe Qualifier Partial Results

The first round of the tournament’s Upper Bracket had 4 matches. Spirit quickly dismantled Winstrike using Luna and Phantom Assassin. PuckChamp got an unexpected victory against Unique. Natus Vincere defeated EXTREMUM in two games, but the second one was much longer than they would have liked. And finally, HellRaisers won their match against Gambit, a strong foe that actually won game 1 and forced them to play their best to win.

In the second round of the Upper Bracket, Spirit had an easy match against PuckChamp while Na’Vi, as I said before, fell against HellRaisers. It certainly seems that Lil, Resolut1on and the rest of the squad are in great shape and might even win the tournament. They’re still the underdogs in their next match against Spirit, but who knows what can happen? If they play well, they might surprise Miposhka with some clever drafts and tactics and then compete in the Grand Final for a chance to write history in the CIS region.

It’s been a long time since we last saw Lil at a TI and I think he deserves it. Resolut1on as well. These two players used to be in high demand until a few years ago and this is their chance to make a comeback.

Lower Bracket

In the Lower Bracket, Empire will face Na’Vi in a match that will decide who survives and who gets eliminated. It would be a disaster for Na’Vi if they lost, but let’s hope they won’t. Under normal conditions, RodjER and his crew should at the very least play in the Lower Bracket Final. But nothing’s guaranteed and the CIS region is full of surprises.

The second Lower Bracket match will take place between PuckChamp and the winner between Nemiga and Fantastic Five. PuckChamp is the favorite but I don’t see how they could win in round 5, against the winner between Na’Vi and Empire. And even if they do, they’ll have to face a strong opponent in the Lower Bracket Final and that will be their demise.

All things considered, I think that Spirit, HellRaisers, and Na’Vi will be the 3 teams to watch going forward. And the one with the highest chances of winning is Spirit.

One sad thing about the tournament is the fact that Solo’s team, NoTechies, was eliminated in the first round of the Lower Bracket. Strangely enough, Solo managed to lose against Dendi’s team, B8.

 

Photo credit: Valve