Virtus over Quantic to upper final

Virtus.pro has managed to overcome Quantic Gaming in a tough three map series 2-1 (16-8 de_inferno_se, 8-16 de_dust2_se, 16-12 de_nuke_se) to guarantee a top three placing and a date with NiP.

Virtus.pro opened up the series with a pistol round win on the terrorist side of de_inferno_se, allowing them to go up 3-0. Their bombsite A attack gave them a 4-0 lead right after, but Quantic saved their weapons and won the fifth round.

That hope didn't last for long through, as Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow's two AK47 entry frags in banana gave Virtus.pro an easy round. Further trading benefited the Russians, who scored an 8-3 lead.

Spencer "hiko" Martin, so far Quantic's top performer statistically, picked up his game with four rounds to go in the half, and led his squad to four straight round wins, cutting Virtus' lead at one.

The Russians won the second pistol round as well, thanks to a well executed delayed push down banana and middle. Quantic's deficit was then extended to 7-12, as they lost the following three rounds as well.

Quantic wouldn't be able to get into the game on de_inferno_se, as strong play by Mihail "Dosia" Stolyarov kept the Americans at bay, with his triple M4A4 kill giving them the sixteenth round at 16-8.

Virtus.pro took home the first map in the series 

Virtus.pro won their counter-terrorist pistol round again on de_dust2_se, but Quantic managed to grab the following save round and all the momentum. They went up 3-1 with two save round wins, but once again struggled.

Stolyarov & co were able to win six straight rounds on the harder side of the map, going up 7-3. However, mistakes allowed Martin to once again come up huge for his team, winning a one-on-three with a P250 to make it 4-7.

Quantic kept fighting to stay alive in the tournament, and strong play such as Carey "frozt" Kertenian's one-on-three AWP clutch ended up giving the Americans a 8-7 lead at half, their first in the series.

Despite winning the second half pistol, Virtus.pro went for a classic Russian force buy and won the second round. Quantic were once again able to save three weapons though, and even took some of Virtus' out in the process.

That proved to be the right move, as Quantic claimed the momentum back on the next round, and Martin's four save round frags made it 11-8. The Americans' kept applying pressure, and Virtus gave in.

They lost two more weapon rounds almost uncontested, and Martin wreaked havock all around the map, finishing the map with a score of 24/11 while his team won 16-8 to tie the series at one map a piece.

hiko's strong play allowed Quantic to tie it up at one 

Virtus once again won the pistol round as terrorists on de_nuke_se, but Quantic's clever Mag 7 setup won them the third round after taking out multiple weapons on round two.

The next few rounds were traded, with Kory "semphis" Friesen scoring three M4A4 kills in the upper bombsite to give his team a 5-3 lead. Next two rounds were traded, but Quantic lost a save round after, forcing them to save in turn.

With the game now tied at 6-6, Virtus had the advantage as terrorists. Karasiow clutched a one-on-two in the lower site, and the teams kept trading punches till the end, once again finishing with a 7-8 score, this time in Virtus' favor.

Martin came through with three Glock kills for Quantic in a three-on-three to win the second pistol round, but Stolyarov dealt 295 damange with his pistol to win Virtus a save round, allowing them to go up 10-8 after the following round.

Virtus racked three more unanswered rounds before Quantic could reply, finally getting one of their own to make it 9-13. Martin's team won the next round, but the other Stolyarov brother's timely push gave Virtus their fourteenth round.

Quantic won the next two rounds, although only after a major scare due to careless play on the Russians' save. Karasiow continued picking Friesen outside, and added two more kills in upper to give Virtus gamepoint at 15-12, which they would use to win 16-12, 2-1 overall.

Virtus.pro will now go on to face the still undefeated Ninjas in Pyjamas, now with a 82-0 record on LAN, in the upper bracket finals. Quantic will face Curse or VeryGames next in the lower bracket semi-finals.