ROYAL NEVER GIVE UP VS NATUS VINCERE DOTA 2 BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
Dota2 Betting Odds:	RNG $1.67 at GG Bet | NaVi $2.12 at GG Bet
Dota2 Betting Lines:	RNG -1.5 at $3.00 | NaVi +1.5 at $1.36
When:	March 15, 2020 at 09:00 PST
Watch Live:	Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/esl_dota2)

ROYAL NEVER GIVE UP VS NATUS VINCERE ESL ONE LOS ANGELES DOTA2 MAJOR BETTING PREVIEW

Natus Vincere will begin their venture at the ESL One Los Angeles Major with a clash against Royal Never Give Up in the opening match in Group A, where the top two seeds will earn direct passage to the upper bracket of the playoffs.

Once a force to be reckoned with, Natus Vincere have been unsuccessful in their attempts to recapture their glory days from the early 2010s. While they are still regarded as one of the best CIS Dota 2 esports squads, NaVi and the region as a whole lack the quality they once had.

Besides the core duo of Vladislav “Crystallize” Krystanek and Idan “MagicaL” Vardanian, NaVi field Pavel “9pasha” Khvastunov, Ilyas “illias” Ganeev and Semion “CemaTheSlayer” Krivulya. The latter just recently joined as a stand-in for Bakyt “Zayac” Emilzhanov, who left for local rivals Virtus.pro in February.

Although Zayac’s departure was a massive blow to the team, Natus Vincere can always count on their reliable carries in Crystallize and MagicaL, both of whom looked good throughout CIS qualifiers and will play a pivotal role in NaVi’s endeavour to hoist the trophy in the City of Angels.

Natus Vincere are also known for their deep champion pool. Having the ability to assemble a wide range of different team compositions is one of the biggest advantages Natus Vincere have over other teams, yet it remains to be seen how their versatility will compare to the consistency of their upcoming opponents.

After finishing seventh-eighth at The International 2019, Royal Never Give Up went through a period of mediocrity that saw them finish fourth at the ESL One Hamburg 2019 China Qualifier, MDL Chengdu Major China Closed Qualifier and DOTA Summit 11 China Qualifier.

Their poor results culminated with a fifth-eight place finish at the Hainan Master Cup in November, which led to Gao “dogf1ghts” Tianpeng and Lu “Fenrir” Chao parting ways with the team in favour of Xun “September” Zhichuan and player-coach Xie “Super” Junhao.

Since the roster reshuffle, Royal Never Give Up have finished seventh at DreamLeague Season 13 Chinese Closed Qualifiers and ended the year with a second-place finish at the Yabo Supreme Cup in December. In January the team pocketed silver at the WePlay! Bukovel Minor, where they dropped the ball against Nigma in the finals, and in February they put up a remarkable display at the Chinese LA Major qualifiers, where RNG lost only one map throughout the whole tournament.

ROYAL NEVER GIVE UP vs NATUS VINCERE ESL ONE LOS ANGELES DOTA2 MAJOR BETTING PREDICTIONS

Royal Never Give Up and Natus Vincere last met at The International 2019, where the Chinese outfit came out ahead with a clean sweep. However, given the changes both sides have gone through in the seven months since, it’s hard to put too much weight on that result.

It’s hard to say which team has an upper hand here, simply because of the different playstyles they have. Natus Vincere tend to outdraft their opponents and work around Crystallize and MagicaL to carry the game, while Royal Never Give Up use a methodical and slow-paced approach that allows them to drag out their games until they outscale their adversaries.

While that doesn’t work well against aggressive and unpredictable teams such as Nigma, it should, in theory, be an effective tool against Natus Vincere. The addition of Super to the active roster has given RNG great leadership and some early-game pressure while balancing their otherwise disciplined and systematic playstyle.

We like the Chinese squad here, but there is something about Natus Vincere and the way they dominated CIS qualifiers that makes us believe they can put up a fight. Either way, these two teams match up nicely and should drag out the series to three maps.