Natus Vincere TI 6 Preview
The Ukrainian team, more commonly known as Na’Vi, are one of the oldest Dota 2 teams around and amongst the most popular. Their rise to prominence coincided with the rise of Dota 2 and they became a household name by winning the very first International in 2011, sustaining this momentum for a few years afterwards.
However, in 2014 the team started to struggle and captain Puppey left in August of that year. From there, Na’Vi started to slip further and disbanded in October 2015. However, only four days later, Na’Vi started rebuilding through Dendi, who had become a pillar of the team. SoNNeikO returned on the same day, while Ditya Ra and Artstyle joined the following December. The current roster was completed with the addition of GeneRaL in February 2016.
Roster:
Dmitry “Ditya Ra” Minenkov – position 1
Danil “Dendi” Ishutin – position 2
Victor “GeneRaL” Nigrini – position 3
Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev (c) – position 4/5
Ivan “Artstyle” Antonov – position 4/5
2016 achievements:
StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 2 – 1st
ESL One Frankfurt 2016 – 2nd
DreamLeague Season 5 – 2nd
StarLadder i-League Invitational – 2nd
Current form:
66.67% win rate (July) – 6 wins, 3 losses
Top 5 most picked heroes this month:
| Hero | Picks | Win % |
| Sand King | 8 | 87.50% |
| Batrider | 8 | 50.00% |
| Io | 7 | 71.43% |
| Chen | 6 | 66.67% |
| Bounty Hunter | 5 | 80.00% |
Top 5 most banned heroes this month:
| Hero | Bans | Win % |
| Invoker | 9 | 44.44% |
| Riki | 8 | 62.50% |
| Drow Ranger | 7 | 71.43% |
| Beastmaster | 7 | 57.14% |
| Faceless Void | 6 | 66.67% |
Na’Vi will enter The International with some momentum after winning the StarLadder i-League Season 2 just a couple of days ago, securing their first trophy in 20 months. The Dota 2 community have been talking about a comeback for a while now, but this win and the manner in which it was achieved suggest that this is starting to be realised.
The team have improved their chemistry by sticking to what they know rather than by experimenting. They execute their strategies and combos well and when playing certain heroes, they usually manage to get what they are after. Batrider, Chen and Io are not only some of the most popular heroes they have recently played, but the top three heroes with whom they have played over the last six months.
Na’Vi generally like to build an early advantage with early aggression (this is where Chen comes in handy). They also like to use snowballing heroes – the Huskar-Io combo was very successful for them during StarLadder and surprisingly they were allowed to pick it quite often. They are also known for picking heroes with strong area-of-effect spells such as Sand King.
The team have been improving their performances for a while now and their recent success was the fruition of their hard work. However, their recent results against top opposition such as Team Liquid and OG have not been impressive and in order to be considered a contender for TI 6, Na’Vi will have to prove that they are capable of beating the very best.
