The first semi-final of DreamHack Masters: Las Vegas 2017 saw a rematch between two Grand Finalists of ELEAGUE Major, Virtus.pro and Astralis.
ELEAGUE Major Runners-Up Virtus.pro faced Astralis at DreamHack Masters: Las Vegas 2017 semi-finals where they avenged their loss at ELEAGUE Major Finals. Both teams won their map picks but Virtus.pro dominated the decider map to eliminate Astralis to become the first team at the Grand Finals. The Poles will face the winner of the North vs. SK Gaming matchup at 04:00 CEST for the DreamHack Masters: Las Vegas 2017 Champions' title.
Virtus.pro vs. 
Astralis
de_Nuke - (12:3, 4:0); 16:3
The first semi-final match kicked-off on Nuke, Virtus.pro's map pick. Playing as the CT side, VP's Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski grabbed three kills and won the pistol round for his team. The following two anti-ecos went VP's way. In the first gunround, the Poles defeated Astralis thanks to Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas' quad-kill to make the score 4-0. Astralis finally got on board in the fifth round, when Markus "kjaerbye" Kjærbye got four kills in the force-buy round. Unfortunately for the Danes, Virtus.pro immediately answered with a round victory and reset the Danish economy. VP were getting away as a result of an impressive streak of five rounds when Kjærbye struck again. The Danish star killed three and secured the second round of the first half for his team. Astralis members were struggling to win aim duels and Virtus.pro players, especially Pawe? "byali" Bieli?ski and Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas were delivering.
After losing the 12th round, VP grabbed two rounds against Astralis' one in the remainder of the first half, making the half-time score 12-3. Winning the second pistol round meant a comfortable voyage to the victory for the Poles as they successfully breached Astralis defence for four times in a row to win the first map fairly easily, 16-3.
de_Overpass - (5:10, 4:6); 9:16
Astralis' map pick, Overpass, began with TaZ killing three in the first pistol round, but the Danes answered with a pistol-armor buy and won the round with a fast B rush. Astralis controlled the game until Jaros?aw "pashaBiceps" Jarz?bkowski killed three to make the score 5-2. A couple of rounds were traded before Astralis regained control. Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander's team broke the CT economy and entered the halftime with a lead of five rounds, 10-5.
Kjærbye's quad-kill secured the second pistol round for Astralis, but VP reset the Danish economy after a successful force-buy to make it 11-6. Three of the following four rounds went VP's way. Finally, Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz killed three, two of which came on a 3v3 post-plant situation in the 22nd round to make the scoreline 13-9. This loss pushed VP to call a timeout. After the timeout, VP bought whatever they could round after round but they were unable to breach the solid Astralis defence. An impressive defence secured the victory on Overpass for Astralis with a 16-9 score to tie the series.
de_Train (12:3, 4:1); 16:4
The decider map was Train and it started under total Virtus.pro control. The Polish side, playing as the Counter-Terrorists, stopped a B push from Astralis to win the pistol round. The following two anti-ecos and the first gun round were won by Virtus.pro, making the score 4-0 and forcing Astralis to make an eco. The next five rounds, whether it was an eco for Astralis or a gunround, went VP's way. At the end of the 9th round, when VP were leading 9-0, Pawe? "byali" Bieli?ski had as many kills as all the Astralis players combined. In the 10th round, Astralis again tried for an A push which wasn't working for many rounds and were subsequently destroyed by VP's defence. Finally, it was the 11th round when Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander decided it was time to try B, and a fast rush secured their first round to make it 10-1. Another B hit made it 10-2, but VP adapted well to Astralis' fast rushes and won the following round to make the score 11-2. It was 12-2 during the final round of the first half, dev1ce and Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen killed the entire VP squad, including a 1v1 won by Rasmussen against Filip "NEO" Kubski to determine the halftime score as 12-3.
Switching to the T side, VP won the second pistol round and the following two rounds to make it to the match point. Playing against match point, Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz stepped up and clutched a 1v3 after-plant but VP's A-split prevailed in the following round. With their successful A-split, the Poles closed out the map 16-4 to win the series 2-1, making them the first team to advance to the DreamHack Masters: Las Vegas 2017 Grand Final.
Image courtesy of Virtus.pro
