Esport MeNatus Vincere take EPL Masters III title with 3-1 win over GamerLegion
NAVI denied North America's GamerLegion a first Dota 2 trophy, winning the EPL Masters III grand final 3-1 behind a dominant offlane display from Yurii "pma" Prots.
Natus Vincere have won EPL Masters III, beating GamerLegion 3-1 in the grand final to close out the Tier 3 Dota 2 tournament, according to Esports.gg News.
The result denies GamerLegion, regarded as North America's leading Dota 2 side, a tournament win after the team had fought through a tight series against Yellow Submarine to reach the final.
NAVI had already beaten Yellow Submarine themselves earlier in the event and carried that momentum into the decider against GamerLegion.
The CIS roster entered the playoffs as one of four teams handed an automatic berth, a reward Esports.gg News notes came on the back of strong recent form at Tier 1 competitions.
They justified that seeding by running through the upper bracket and sending GamerLegion down into the lower bracket along the way, only to meet them again at the final hurdle.
GamerLegion could not reverse the earlier defeat, taking just one map off NAVI across the best-of-five grand final.
A defining feature of NAVI's run was the variety in their drafting. The team rarely repeated a hero pick through the upper bracket, instead leaning on reactive drafting to counter opponents directly, with Brewmaster, Kez and Dazzle among their most effective choices.
Offlaner Yurii "pma" Prots was central to the grand final victory, piloting Brewmaster and Timbersaw to decisive effect across games one, two and three.
Prots also kept his net worth in line with NAVI's other core players while dying no more than four times across those games, a notably low death count for a role that typically absorbs early pressure and risk.
NAVI's immediate schedule will not include 1win Essence III, with the squad opting to skip the tournament and instead prepare for BLAST SLAM 9, a Tier 1 event beginning on 20 November 2026.
Esports.gg News frames that event as a significant test of whether the young roster can compete with stronger opposition and recover from a disappointing showing at the previous BLAST tournament.
EPL Masters III finished with GamerLegion in second, Yellow Submarine third and HULIGANI fourth, with OG and CyberHero sharing fifth to sixth place and LEGION and Nemiga Gaming splitting seventh and eighth.
The next major fixture on the Dota 2 calendar is 1win Essence III on 12 November 2026, which is set to feature PARIVISION, Team Spirit, 1w Team and Aurora Gaming.