Virtus.pro round out Major playoffs

The final match of the day pitted Virtus.pro and G2, two teams who had faced each other on Tuesday, during the first round of the group stage. Kicking off the series was Train, the exact same map where the Polish team had slaughtered the Frenchmen, but this time around it was a closer affair, even though the outcome would still be the same.

Virtus.pro got off on the right foot in the game and strolled to a 3-0 lead after winning the pistol round thanks to Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski's four frags. After buying up, G2's defense came to life and they equalised the score at 3-3, but Virtus.pro went on another great run and restored a three-round lead.

A triple kill from Edouard "⁠SmithZz⁠" Dubourdeaux with the M4A1 put G2 back in the game, but Virtus.pro rallied back in the following round, resetting the economy of the Frenchmen. Until the end of the half G2 were strapped for cash, but they still managed to clinch the final round to bring the scoreline to a 5-10 deficit.

In the second half, G2 were able to pick up the pistol round with a B push, even after losing two men early on to Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas's USP. They managed to follow it up with both anti-ecos to cut the gap to 8-10, but the momentum of the game changed completely when Virtus.pro finally bought up as they gave up just one round after their first buy, closing out the map 16-9.

Virtus.pro beat G2 on train again 

Next up was Inferno, where G2 had the pistol round gifted to them as Virtus.pro's offensive strat backfired completely. Their fantastic run on the Terrorist side continued, allowing them to take a 5-0 lead and build a solid bank, but then the Polish team finally put their foot down to hold back the Frenchmen and picked up back-to-back rounds.

Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon then single-handedly won the round for G2 with four kills during a flank, with Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski responding in the next round with a triple kill with the mag7. Virtus.pro were unable to build on that however, as they were caught out by a straight B rush from G2, but they rallied back once again with a triple mag7 setup. Until the end of the half it was an all-Virtus.pro show as TaZ's men won five rounds straight to take an 8-7 half-time lead.

G2 responded with a dominant performance on the CT side, taking the first five rounds to bring the scoreline to 12-8. It was only then that Virtus.pro finally managed to get a round on the board as Terrorists, denying Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom the chance to win a 1vs4 clutch, but G2 were able to hit back right after and reset the economy of the Poles. Down 9-13, Virtus.pro went on a desperate force buy, but G2 held strong and crushed their opponents, also winning the following two rounds to seal a 16-9 win.

G2 pulled back with a great performance from shox 

The final map, Cobblestone, began with Virtus.pro winning the pistol round with a no-nonsense B push, but G2 were successful in their force buy and restored parity. The game then entered a highly-contested period as teams traded round for round, with G2 coming out on top and taking a 4-2 lead.

Virtus.pro then went on an incredible run and won eight rounds in a row, with all close situations seeming to slip through the fingers of G2's players every time. The Frenchmen still managed to bag the final round of the half, but they knew they had a mountain to climb to overcome the 5-10 deficit.

Things went from bad to worse for G2 in the second half as they fell short in the pistol round. After a lengthy pause due to a TeamSpeak crash, both teams were back at it, and it was business as usual for Virtus.pro, who won the following four rounds to hit match point. G2 still managed to string two rounds together, but it was simply too little, too late, as Virtus.pro ran out 16-7 winners to advance to the playoffs.