Mag picks Alliance and Gambit as main favorites at the StarLadder ImbaTV Minor title

Natus Vincere are qualified straight for the ESL One Los Angles Major and as they have a little bit more time to prepare for the tournament, their coach Andrey “Mag” Chipenko answered a few questions for the CIS community on vk.com

When asked about who will take the upcoming Minor trophy, Mag named both Alliance and Gambit Esports as the top contenders. He also mentioned that he doesn’t see Aster ready to make a strong run in the Minor, like their regional fellows from Royal Never Give Up did at the WePlay! Bukovel Minor. Asked about the regional slots allocation for this tournament, Mag was in disagreement with Valve’s decision stating that some of the teams that are about to play on the upcoming Minor are doing so “simply because of the lack of competition in their respective region.” He mentioned that he would have liked to see a slot taken from some of the less competitive and be added to the European region. He also pointed out the fact that it’s pretty unfair to have both Nigma and Team Liquid unable to play on either the Minor or the Major while lower tier teams can reach at least the Minor stage courtesy of coming from a less competitive region.

At the end of the previous season, Mag was tempted to reboot his player career, however, he decided, in the end, to continue his work with the Na’Vi players although the roster has changed quite a lot after TI9. “My main goal now is to become a better coach and achieve better results than last year,” he said adding that he has a strong partner in Pavel “9pasha” Khvastunov, a player which he says he “fully trusts.” 

ESL One Los Angeles will mark Na’Vi’s second appearance in this year’s Dota Pro Circuit. At the previous Major, the team placed only bottom four after being eliminated by Team Liquid. This time around, the ones that ended their Major run won’t be in Los Angeles, but the competition definitely looks tough with OG coming back ready to show what a roster with three of the best mid laners in the world can do.

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