Virtus.pro take down SK 2-1

The first semi-final of EPICENTER brought us a rematch of the exciting ESL One New York semi-final and one of the best rivalries of 2016: Virtus.pro - SK.

The action started on SK's Train, where they were able to take the pistol round, but their third round B-site aggression was expected and waited out by the Poles, denying them kills and information.

After the early phase of the round, Virtus.pro grouped up and ran into the inner site, getting their first round on the board.

SK bounced right back in the following one, but as the round was unconvincing for them, Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas's team decided to force up a couple of times with hopes to reset the CT economy.

That didn't work out though, leaving them 6-1 down and on an eco. From that point onwards SK ran away with the half, displaying their masterclass CT side of Train once again.

Helped by Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo going 9-0 over Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski in the map, they kept it clean until the end of the half, finishing it 14-1 before closing out the map 16-1.

Virtus.pro started the first half of Nuke with an A-split, utilizing the outer catwalk to wrap the site and take the round, quickly equalling their score from map 1.

FalleN had two opening kills with the AWP in the following round to help his team bounce back to 3-3 and then slowly take the lead on the CT side of the map. Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski and Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński were successful in their 2v2 afterplant on A to get another round on the board towards the end, making it 9-6 for SK in the first half.

After the switch, it was as tight as it could be with the teams being within two round of each other throughout the half. Snax was much better on Nuke, combining with NEO in yard and displaying some classic snax moves around the smokes all over the map.

As the score was tied at 11-11 Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David clutched an important 1v2 to put his team ahead, but Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski picked up a double on ramp at 13-11 to stop the rot, providing his team a much needed push to get over the finish line and win the second map 16-13.

Despite having a 0-3 start on the final map - Cobblestone, Virtus.pro were looking extremely confident on the defensive side. FalleN's side was failing to make an impact with their slow defaults thanks to Snax and pashaBiceps picking off their opposition early in most rounds.

SK picked up their first and only Terrorist gun round in the 13th after some clean entries on B, with Virtus.pro promptly bouncing back to close out the half 11-4.

After losing the pistol round, SK had only one more chance to get back in the match. On the first gun round, Virtus.pro hit B and, despite coldzera being in position to shut down the Poles, managed to close out the round and subsequently the game.

EPICENTER: MoscowBest of 3

Virtus.pro

Matchpage

2

1

23rd October 2016

SK

1

Train

16

16

Nuke

13

16

Cobblestone

4

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	50 - 43	+7	78.5	75.8%	1.20
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	47 - 43	+4	79.1	68.2%	1.10
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	49 - 48	+1	76.3	71.2%	1.03
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	42 - 46	-4	70.5	59.1%	0.91
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	30 - 49	-19	65.3	62.1%	0.82

SK	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFalleN	53 - 39	+14	75.6	62.1%	1.19
Epitacio 'TACO' de MeloTACO	48 - 43	+5	78.3	72.7%	1.07
Fernando 'fer' Alvarengafer	43 - 47	-4	74.6	63.6%	1.01
Marcelo 'coldzera' Davidcoldzera	45 - 44	+1	72.2	71.2%	0.97
Lincoln 'fnx' Laufnx	38 - 45	-7	73.0	71.2%	0.95

The second semi-final: Natus Vincere - Dignitas, is up next at EPICENTER: Moscow.

Professeur writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter.