In a back and forth series to determine which team would earn a spot in the Summer Global Championship taking place in Sweden next month, Team Naventic came back from a 2-1 game deficit to defeat Cloud9 3-2.
The event held at DreamHack Austin awarded a $25,000 prize to Team Naventic, with Cloud9 taking home second place and a $20,000 prize.
"The team stepped up and we had nothing to lose. When we were down 2-1, I looked at my team and told them I'm the best damn [Kael'thas] in the world so I played him and it worked out," said Team Naventic captain Christopher "Zuna" Buechter.
The winning team consisted of Zuna, Ken "Kenma" Buechter, Fan "Fan" Yang, Sammuel "Bigempct" Hua and Stafford "McIntyre" McIntyre. Game one saw Team Naventic get off to a fast start in the Tomb of the Spider Queen map, but key kills by Naventic's Zuna and company allowed for a lead swap.
Both teams mirrored the other when it came to map rotations, objective play, and team fight strategies as the match progressed past the 32 minute mark. It followed with a stalemate on the battlefield. But Naventic executed an excellent a team fight as Stafford "McIntyre" McIntyre used the ranged assassin Thrall, stunning the opposing team with his calculated ultimate ability "Sundering," causing a team-wipe and securing a 1-0 lead.
Cloud 9 bounced back in game two, drafting three heroes that focused on stunning and crowd controlling its opponents to help manipulate team-fights. They can secure an advantage while assassins cement kills from afar.
The strategy worked well, as Cloud9 would stun and isolate one hero of Team Naventic's and focus down the sitting duck, causing a five vs four hero advantage.
The tie-breaking game three took place on the Towers of Doom close-quarters map and Team Naventic drafted a hero lineup designed at mastering tight engagements. Unfortunately, Cloud9 expected that and allowed Team Naventic to push the objective hard before picking its spot to attack Naventic's powerful yet squishy heroes in a one-sided affair. Cloud9 asserted its dominance with a final score of 24-0 on the map, inching one game closer to securing the Summer Global Championship spot.
Game four on the Battlefield of Eternity saw Team Naventic combo the powerful diving hero Illidan Stormrage with Kael'thas in the hands of Fan "Fan" Yang and Buechter. Kael'thas was able to use his Gravity Lapse ability to lift his opponent in the air while Illidan dove in and shredded Cloud9's defenseless hero. The strategy worked well to gain an advantage near the map objective, causing Team Naventic to take the lead as the game moved into the second half.
In the winner-take-all game on the large Cursed Hallows map, Team Naventic took a risk, drafting Illidan as its first pick, allowing Cloud9 to take Kael'thas.
"Fan looked at us in game five and said 'If I take Illidan, we're going to win,' so we let him use him," said Zuna.
Falstad ended up in the hands of Zuna. On a large map, its global presence can be game-changing. Cloud9 failed to rotate properly when the tribute objectives were placed around the map, allowing Team Naventic to take a significant map advantage as a result.
To prevent a last ditch effort from Cloud9 to make up the ground it needed to stay in the match, Zuna flew in on Falstad, angled himself perfectly and used his ultimate ability to blow the enemy team into awaiting teammates. After the dust settled, Team Naventic walked away fairly unscathed and was able to push the core in the fastest game of the match, winning the tournament 3-2.
"We just ran out of steam," said Cloud9 captain Derek "Dunktrain" Arabian.
Neither team's road to the championship matchup was easy or quick. Naventic advanced to the grand finals after taking down Gale Force Esports 2-0 score in the semifinals, featuring a battle that was much closer than the score reflected.
From the get-go, Gale Force Esports attempted to use its skillful assassin play to try and isolate Team Naventic heroes from the rest of the team but Naventic would not take the bait, sticking to its ultra-passive and conservative roots. Naventic captain, Zuna, led the way with his calculated shot-calling focused on mitigating risk in team-fights.
Team Naventic's passive play frustrated Gale Force Esports, forcing it to overextend numerous times. Game one between the two featured a match lasting over 30 minutes, but multiple mistakes down the stretch from Gale Force's Thrall hero proved too costly.
Game two was more of the same as Team Naventic played a near-flawless game, staying cool under pressure with its veteran roster.
Until the grand finals, Cloud9 did not drop a single game all weekend, but in its semifinal match-up against COGnitive Gaming, that streak almost ended. Cloud9's Kun "iDream" Fang used the crowd favorite, Rexxar, and his sidekick bear Misha to bully COGnitive Gaming's front line, isolating heroes for easy kills.
COGnitive Gaming began to build momentum as the game progressed but it was too late, putting it in a 1-0 deficit.
A tale of two halves took place in game two as COGnitive Gaming made Cloud9 regret selecting the newest hero added to the competitive scene, Dehaka, as its warrior. It took advantage of the reptile's pool movement speed, wiping him out multiple times early on.
Cloud9 captain Derek "Dunktrain" Arabian was visibly frustrated playing the support hero Malfurion as his job of keeping the warrior at full health was stifled. The team was in danger of dropping its first map of the day.
Once the second half stage of the game commenced, a switch was flipped for Cloud9 as Keiwan "K1pro" Itakura took control of the assassin night elf, Kael'thas. Its selected abilities managed to exponentially increase the damage output, turning the tide of battles. An early level disadvantage was evaporated and Cloud9 prevailed down the stretch to advance to the grand finals.
The second North America Summer Regional will take place on June 4-5 in Burbank, California with a $100,000 prize pool, as it's the last chance for a North American team to qualify for the Summer Global Championship.