Na'Vi and Orange came to The International 3 as the favorites in winning the event. Now, One of them has to earn it the hard way as both teams were pit against each other in the very first round of the winner's bracket. Though thy are considered to be the top dogs, both these two teams had a rough start to begin their quest in this year's International. Fortunately, Na'Vi and Orange somewhow found the composure they need to finish of the 3 days group stage placing in the upper part of their brackets.

 

 

Na'vi at the moment is heavily favored against the Malaysians when it comes to International experience. The core members Dendi, Xboct, and Puppey all played together since the very first International. Aside from them, KuroKy and Funn1k also both attended the previous event playing in for Darer and Mousesports respectively.

 

Keys to the Game

Pick/Ban Weaver!

Both teams have an effective Weaver user. For Na'Vi, Puppey seemed to figure out the best hero to complement Xboct's aggresiveness. In the group stages, Na'Vi won 7 out of 8 games when they choose Xboct to play weaver. On the other hand, Xtinct maybe hasn't notice yet because of the variety of hard-carry he picks, but when he gives Ky.Xy his weaver, It's almost an Instant-win for Orange having a 3-0 standing in the group stage

 

Xboct Weaver:   

Ky.Xy Weaver:   

 

Orange Carry Versatility

If you are Orange, you know very well that you have a trio of solid and versatile carry players. Mushi, Ky.Xy, and Ohayo prior to The International, has been seen playing almost every roles for the team. One way to negate Na'Vi's strategy is to surprise them by letting them be clueless on who will play who and who will play what.

No to Jungle Hero

In this series, Xtint must resist any jungle heroes from being picked. First reason for this is that Puppey when settling in Jungle (Chen, Enchantress, Enigma) has been almost perfect with 5-1 rate, wherein for Xtinct, his sole jungle (Chen) game has resulted into a loss. Aside from this factor, though it is given that Xtinct has a great micro is that he has totally excelled in playing Visage. His excellent Visage play has a record of 7-2 in the group stage. Also, when picking the aerial support, he together with Net can give additional pressure when Na'Vi opted to go aggresive tri-lane.

 

Xtinct Visage:     

 

Prediction:

Both teams have his own weapon. Though Na'Vi is heavily favoured to win this series, Orange on the other hand has dealt Na'Vi a 2-0 sweep in the Alienware Cup Group Stages. RGN Predicts 2-1 in favor of Na'Vi