The ESL One Raleigh early elimination wasn’t the end of the nightmare for Falcons. Now, it was even worse, as they didn’t get past Group Stage at the PGL Wallachia S4.
No statistic in the current Dota 2 scene can explain how NaVi Jr defeated Team Falcons with a 2:0 score at the PGL Wallachia Season 4. The Ukrainian squad is the youngest team competing at the Tier 1 level, and for some of its players, this tournament marks their first-ever LAN experience.
To better understand this incredible accomplishment, let's put these two teams side-by-side:
Role NaVi Jr Team Falcons | Carry Taras "gotthejuice" Linnikov Age: 19 Total earnings: $26,782 Playing since: 2022 Oliver "Skiter" Lepko Age: 26 Total earnings: $2,819,618 Playing since: 2015 | Midlane Artem "Niku" Bachkur Age: 16 Total earnings: $22,567 Playing since: 2023 Stanislav "malr1ne" Potorak Age: 20 Total earnings: $792,105 Playing since: 2021 | Offlane Yurii "pma" Prots Age: 18 Total earnings: $35,024 Playing since: 2022 Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf Age: 20 Total earnings: $1,116,965 Playing since: 2020 | Soft Support Bakyt "Zayac" Emilzhanov Age: 26 Total earnings: $852,686 Playing since: 2015 Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen Age: 28 Total earnings: $3,220,452 Playing since: 2012 | Hard Support Stanislav "Riddys" Mitroshkyn Age: 19 Total earnings: $26,546 Playing since: 2020 Wu "Sneyking" Jingjun Age: 29 Total earnings: $3,175,957 Playing since: 2012 |
Before beating Falcons at the PGL Wallachia S4, NaVi Jr had to play the closed qualifiers, since they were not invited. There, they struggled to eliminate NaVi's main squad in the grand finals, with a 3:2 score. The team also lost their first two group stage series pretty convincingly, which makes this result even more surprising.
In fact, the only public figure who showed support for this squad was Cr1t- himself, Falcons' support player. It was more than a year ago when he expressed that he believed this team would qualify for that season's DreamLeague. It didn’t happen, but he still showed his support by replying to other comments.
How did NaVi Jr beat Falcons at the PGL Wallachia S4?
The series started as expected: Falcons were having a great net worth game, and their Dragon Knight was doing fine. However, it was at minute 13 that the first match started to look odd. DK traded himself for a support Shadow Shaman, and for the rest of the early game, it was gotthejuice’s Lifestealer doing better in numbers.
Close to the 20-minute mark, the Falcons got the teamfight they needed to survive the PGL Wallachia group stage, by getting rid of four of NaVi Jr’s heroes. But skiter wasn’t having a great game, and the support Tinker was worth so much money that getting a kill on him gave a lot of momentum.
Unfortunately for Falcons, this became a trend. The DK's impact was nowhere near what Lifestealer offered. And not many minutes later, every fight was dominated by NaVi Jr. Game one ended with a surprising victory for the youngsters.
Contrary to what viewers expected, the Falcons didn’t recover for game two. They drafted Dragon Knight again, but gave it to malr1ne, expecting that skiter would dominate the tempo with Nature’s Prophet.
Despite this decision, they were never in control of the game. After losing multiple trades, gotthejuice finally gave them the juice. The young squad set a perfect fight for their Templar Assassin and closed the match with an ultra kill.
Related articles
Community's reaction to Falcons' elimination
Gorgc has been watching a lot of tournaments lately, but this time he was sick during NaVi Jr’s game against Falcons in the PGL Wallachia S4 group stage. However, he went live minutes after the elimination game and responded to his chat’s spam about it.
"How the hell did Falcons get 2-0 by NaVi Junior, guys. What the f-. Falcons is eliminated at 10th place, they never had a bad result like this. Ever." Said the streamer, making a joke about Ammar's role as a drafter later on.
Cr1t- also took to X to show his frustration about the poor results. He said it was a "bad tournament from me individually," which is a hard thing to admit for a player considered to be one of the best in the world.
The PGL Wallachia S4 will continue, and we have summarized everything in one article to keep you updated. If you want more Dota 2 news, check our dedicated section here!
