picture courtesy of StarLadder
Natus Vincere and their iconic Mid-laner Daniel 'Dendi' Ishutin will not be at The International this year for the first time in 7 years.
Na'Vi found themselves in 5th place at The International 2017 CIS Regional Qualifiers, after two arduous days of Dota 2, just falling short of the CIS playoffs. Ending day one with a 2-2 score, Na'Vi came back strong in day two by winning three games in a row, putting themselves at 5-2. However, Dendi and his team fell short in the games that really mattered. Their last 2 matches were against Team Spirit and Vega Squadron respectively, who were both contenders for the top four spots as well. Having lost their final two games, Na'Vi had no chance of making the playoffs and hence, shattered their TI7 dreams. This will be the first ever International without both Na'Vi and Dendi.
(Fun fact: Na'Vi won against every team below them in the standings and lost to every team above them)
The top four teams from the CIS regions (Team Empire, Gleb 'Funn1k' Lipatnikov's stack M19, Team Spirit and Vega Squadron) all ended with a score of 7-2 and will move on to the playoffs. With these teams so evenly matched, I foresee a nail-biting playoffs with all four teams battling it out for the ONE ticket to Seattle.
The CIS playoffs will start in a few hours at 11:00 CEST. It will be a Double Elimination bracket with all matches being BO3's, except the grand finals being BO5. Stay tuned and support your favorite CIS team!
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