Virtus.pro overcome SK Gaming in a two map sweep, securing their place in the grand final of the ELEAGUE Major.
Virtus.pro win de_Train - 10:5, 5:10, 4:2 (19:17)
Virtus.pro start on the Counter-Terrorist side.
SK Gaming start off Train's T side by securing the pistol round after a successful storm onto the A bomb site. Virtus.pro opt for an anti-eco on the second round, one that proved to be semi-effective in the sense that the team was only able to make the round expensive for the Brazilians, taking away two rifles. During the first buy round for Virtus.pro, Counter-Strike veteran Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas secured the first 4k of the map, landing his team their first round in the half. Following this, Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski scored the second round of the half with a beautiful 3k whilst defending the A site. The latter portion of the first half saw a very dominant CT side performance from Virtus.pro, where the team had all the answers to aggressions from the Brazilians. On several occasions the economy of SK Gaming was in a poor state, all the way through to the end. Despite the dire straits, SK Gaming's Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo did not despair, clutching out a 2v1 situation with all but a Tec9 in the final round of the half, switching over to the CT side on with a 5:10 score deficit.
A beautiful second pistol round went in favour of SK Gaming, where Ricardo "fox" Pacheco was able to defuse a bomb plant that was planned to be denied by Filip "Neo" Kubski, however the Brazilians came prepared with a timely smoke grenade that negated the effect of the fire, enabling a defuse and a round victory. Two further rounds went in favour of SK Gaming, shortly after which Virtus.pro retaliated on their buy round, producing an 11:7 lead for the Poles. The lead was not held for long as the Brazilians composed themselves, bringing the round deficit down to just one at a 12:11 score skewed towards the Polish side. On the 26th round SK Gaming had finally caught up with the Poles at a 13:13 stalemate. Neither team was willing to roll over, slowly grinding round by round. Cool, calm and collected, SK Gaming outsmart the Poles on the 30th round of the map, pushing the map into overtime.
An extremely action-packed first round in the overtime where Filip "Neo" Kubski manages to closely clutch a 2v1 situation with all but 8hp left to his name. Epitacio "TACO" de Melo stepped up for his team during the second round, landing a 3k that ended up saving the Brazilians from a potentially catastrophic economy. A questionable play from Jaroslaw "pashaBiceps" Jarzabkowski was seen during the 5th round of overtime, where luckily the Poles were able to defuse the bomb through bomb site control. The final say was behind Virtus.pro, as the team takes out SK Gaming's entire squad, securing the map at a 19:17 score.
Virtus.pro win de_Cobblestone - 6:9, 10:5 (16:14)
Virtus.pro start on the Terrorist side.
A strong start from SK Gaming with a convincing pistol round victory, that swayed in the Brazilians' favour after two beautiful one-taps from the one and only Marcelo "coldzera" David. A dominant start meant a further four rounds were collected before Virtus.pro were able to grab their first on the 6th round. The momentum from the previously mentioned victory was carried over by the Poles, grabbing two consecutively and eventually catching up with their opponents in the 12th round with a 6:6 score. Six rounds was all the Poles managed to salvage on the T side, with SK Gaming running away at a 9:6 half score.
In attempt to bring themselves back into the game, Virtus.pro secure the second pistol round, with great potential for the next few rounds. Countering this were SK Gaming, via an anti-eco buy in the second round of the latter half, unfortunately it did not work out to plan, with all members falling to a flawless Virtus.pro. In light of this situation, the Polish roster was able to bring it back to level ground at a 9:9 score going into the 19th round. Progressively more rounds were dropping into the hands of Virtus.pro; however a very close situation with fer was seen on the 23rd round, where an anti-eco came out from the Brazilian side and very nearly cut the losing streak for the team. Unfortunately for SK, Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas was able to spray down Epitacio "TACO" de Melo, closing out any such possibility. The 27th round saw Virtus.pro enter match point territory, as the team was sitting at a 15:12 score. SK attempt to catch up with the Poles on round 29, however this proved to be a difficulty, as Virtus.pro shut down a B site advancement through effective angles and use of utility, landing the team a 16:14 win over SK Gaming and a placement in the grand final against Astralis.
