Evil Geniuses take the D2L Western Challenge Grand Final without dropping a game the entire tournament. EG look on form coming into TI4 whilst Na'Vi, after a convincing lower bracket comeback, are knocked back after not taking a single game in the series.
Evil Geniuses put a halt to Na'Vi's late surge through the Lower Bracket to claim the majority of a decent prize pool, taking the series flawlessly. EG led the entire tournament showing themselves to be a truly a world class team and certainly worthy of their invite to The International. Amongst a field of such renound teams they look very strong at the moment and this win will give them great momentum going into the biggest Dota tournament of all.
Sadly, Na'Vi looked like they had just run into a better team, which is something that would be almost unheard of a few years ago. The EG line up managed to dominate the Ukranians convincnlgy in game one and then arguably in the whole series. It's a shame for the winners of the first ever TI, as they looked like they had managed to silence any critics by string performances against Team Empire and Fnatic. The new young talent Arteezy managed to keep pace and controlled the series against his mid opposition Dendi, putting EG in prime position and Na'Vi needing to reavaluate their strategy heading into TI.
1st - 
Evil Geniuses - $29,500
2nd - 
Natus Vincere - $19,500
3rd - 
Fnatic - $10,250
4th - 
Team Empire - $5,250
5th - RoX.KIS - $1,800
6th - 
Cloud 9 - $1,800
Na'Vi vs. Evil Geniuses - VODS here
Game One
Draft: Na'Vi have gone for another agressive pushing line up with Enchantress and Lycanthrope. EG have given Arteezy his recent favourite Phantom Assassin, so perhaps they will be able to dominate the mid game with a good start on mid and Brewmaster.
0:00 EG decide to move SK down to bot lane with Brewmaster, which is an odd dual lane
3:00 Arteetzy having a tough time at mid against Dendi's Puck
5:45 EG take the lead in kills
11:00 Small fight at mid means that EG contiune their lead
14:00 EG leads by 10 kills to 6
15:29 EG extends their lead by picking off Void and Lycan in the Radiant jungle. Crucial kills to halt Na'vi's farming progress
16:00 Universe has his core items Blink and Mekanism on Tidehunter. Even with Arteezy not doing as well as he could have at mid, EG are looking very strong
18:25 EG port back to save their own tier one tower and get a 2 for 1 exchange with a solid ravage
19:45 EG have dominated the early stages of the game. Even with a great dream coil from Dendi and a sneaky Chronosphere in the back EG get a full team wipe! There was no follow up to Na'Vi's initation. EG manage to just use their lead to completely take the team fight.
21:00 GG! The lead was too much for Na'Vi trailing 20 kills to 7.
Draft: First few picks are identical on both sides to game one. EG are looking like they are going for a big team fight oriented line up with Brewmaster, Tidehunter, Sand King and Jakiro. Na'Vi pick up Lycan, but on the Dire side this time hoping for a better game with the hero on this side of the river. To try and answer the big team fight potential from EG, Na'Vi have a ganking line up with Puck and Nyx to try and break up the enemy team.
0:00 Na'vi have set up a defensive trilane with Nyx solo off and EG have done a similar lane set up with Tidehunter offlane. Dendi will be taking Puck mid against Arteezy's Tinker.
1:24 Universe goes down after trying a clutch TP out to give Na'Vi the first blood! They instantly smoke up and rotate to mid.
2:00 Bane manages to get the Nightmare on Tinker who goes down to the nuke power of Puck and Bane
3:24 Na'Vi looks like they are winning all three lanes with Funn1k being a level above Universe and Dendi beating Arteezy on CS at mid
4:25 Universe gets dived under his tower by the Lycan trilane and goes down again to give Puppey a killing spree
5:34 Funn1k gets caught out in the Radiant jungle but manages to Spike Carapace and TP out
6:26 PPD goes for the bottom rune but gets caught by a Dreamcoil from Puck and ends up getting killed to 3 Na'Vi players
7:30 EG T1 tower goes down to Lycan, but Leshrac gets caught on the way out making the kills 4 to 1 for Na'Vi
9:00 Na'Vi lose Leshrac again in the Radiant jungle after trying to catch out Sand King farming the medium camp
11:10 After a missed stun from Nyx on Tinker, EG manage to counter initiate and pick off Puck and Leshrac
11:29 Kills are tied at 4 a piece, as EG look to push into the Dire T1 tower
13:06 Na'Vi manage to pick off Tidehunter in the Radiant jungle, but after Xboct dives the T1 tower and a buyback from Universe, Na'Vi lose 4
14:26 Na'Vi manage to stop the push into their T1 after a very well placed Split Earth from Kuroky and level the score at 10-10
15:00 Triple kill for zai! Nyx managed to Vendetta into Tinker and pick off 2, but Sand King comes in with a big Epicentre that truns the fight back in EG's favour
18:12 EG use a smoke to no avail in top lane. Na'Vi sense the gank attempt and simply take Roshan in exchange for their T1. Overall a better trade for Na'Vi by getting the Radiant T1
20:05 Na'vi denies their top T2 whilst Nyx gets a solo pick off on Tinker, but zai gets off another brilliant Epicentre to catch 2
26:50 After a few quiet minutes Puppey gets picked off in his own jungle, losing a Gem he had just picked up
29:45 EG try and push into Na'Vi's bottom T2 using all their big ultimates, but Na'Vi hold strong and defend the tower with three kills to nothing
31:00 Tinker gets picked off again
32:45 Na'Vi manage to take the T2 tower but lose two heroes and the Aegis on Lycan
33:20 Both teams looking to go for mass BKBs
36:06 Xboct extends very far into the Radiant mid lane and EG commit a Ravage to ensure the kill on him
38:00 Both teams playing very cautiously, farming up and trying to split push
40:00 Arteezy gets picked off in top lane! A crucial kill to try and give Na'Vi some breathing space
42:04 Lycan looks to take a solo Roshan
42:59 Fight breaks out at the Roshan pit. Na'Vi trade an Aegis and a buyback for 3 kills on EG
43:20 Mason gets picked off again and doesn't have buyback. T3 and mid Barracks gets taken by Na'Vi
44:00 Na'Vi rotate to bottom lane, losing Puck for 2 kills, but are eventually forced to retreat with Brewmaster back up with a Refresher Orb
47:00 Big back and forth fight outside Na'Vi's top T3 with EG coming out on top eventually after killing off Xboct
48:25 EG move into mid lane and end up diving onto Lycan, which forces out a buyback but leaves them having to back up after PPD and Tinker go down.
50:50 Na'Vi push back through mid and with buybacks on all sides, but evetually Nyx gets caught out and Lycan actually runs back in. Xboct manages to run from Radiant mid lane to where the T1 used to stand but eventually goes down (about a minute later!) Check out the video of it below.
52:30 EG storm down bottom lane and into mid and go straight for the Anicent!
53:00 GG! The Anicent goes down after lots of skirmishing in the Dire base. Huge Burrow Strikes into Epicentre from zai. The teamfight from EG was too strong, as Na'Vi failed to split up the engagements towards the end of the game. They were forced into about 10 minutes of team fighting in which EG's draft had the natural advantage.
Game 3
Draft: Bit of a different draft from both teams. Na'Vi pick up Skywrath Mage and Queen of Pain whilst EG look like they will have Batrider in the offlane and a support Clockwerk. Interesting picks from the teams here. With both the Enigma and the Doom Na'Vi look like they want to farm up those heroes and dominate with gold.
0:00 EG are running a Shadow Demon, Centaur and Batrider trilane with Templar Assassin mid.
2:25 As expected Dendi's Queen of Pain is managing to out CS Arteezy's Templar Assassin to get a great start on the mid lane
3:10 Batrider using the jungle to farm up, getting Tranquil Boots already
3:50 Na'Vi try and push in the bottom T1, but looks like it was a bit early and they have to retreat.
4:50 Failed gank on Arteezy mid using the Refraction to tank the damage
5:57 Funn1k gets Disrupted in the Dire jungle and goes down to give EG first blood
8:10 Puppey fails a blackhole and Stampede gets Arteezy away from danger
9:44 Na'Vi take the bottom T1 tower, but EG use Stampede to intitiate with a Lassoo and take 2 quick kills
11:00 Na'Vi smoke to top...
11:30 Arteezy gets caught out farming the jungle and goes down
12:00 Dendi gets killed by a Stomp and Lassoo, but manage to get top T1
12:51 Arteezy killed again in his own jungle by Dire T2!
13:24 Great exchange from Na'Vi as they take down the top T2
15:12 Arteezy with a catch up Midas manages to stay at the top of the leader board on levels, recovering nicely from Dendi's advantage at mid
16:10 Universe uses Firefly just in time to escape the Na'Vi heroes' gank attempt
18:26 Xboct gets caught by Lassoo at mid whilst Puppey gets caught by a hook at top, but Na'Vi manages to take down Centaur and Clock to get an even exchange
19:40 EG's T1 mid tower goes down and Doom has a Shiva's Guard and a Mekanism up already
22:50 Xboct caught again in no man's land, which leads to both him and Dendi going down. Leads nicely into a Roshan for EG.
28:43 Three go down for EG with an spot on Black Hole from Puppey and Sonic Wave from Dendi
31:00 Triple kill for Arteezy!
31:05 Na'Vi seriously caught out in their own jungle and EG manage to take a full five man team wipe!
32:30 EG move in to take another Roshan
34:30 Big team fight in the Dire jungle leaving casualties on bith sides. Just Arteezy left with Aegis manning up against Dendi. Templar Assassin goes down with Queen of Pain of very low health. Universe buys back and snipes Dendi instantly with Flare!
41:00 Both teams farming up with EG leading by 18 kills to 14
42:20 EG go into Roshan whilst Na'Vi smokes up. Fight breaks out just outside the Roshan pit and EG manage to take a very nice 4 to 1 exchange
43:30 Arteezy running over the Na'Vi line up with huge crits
43:40 Arteezy goes Godlike!
44:00 GG! The pressure is too much from EG with Arteezy's Templar Assassin just mowing down the Na'Vi line up.
