Virtus.pro beat BIG; to face Windigo in Moche XL semi-final

Virtus.pro won their map pick, Mirage (16-5), as well as BIG's, Dust2 (19-15), to move on to the semi-finals at Moche XL.

A triple by Arek "⁠Vegi⁠" Nawojski on an A strike by Virtus.pro gave the Polish side the first round of the match on Mirage. They were then able to take the first gun round to go on a 4-0 lead after another play on A with doubles by Vegi and Michał "⁠snatchie⁠" Rudzki. After losing the first seven rounds BIG were finally able to get on the board and were then able to get five rounds before the half, trailing 5-10.

Doubles by Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski and Michal "⁠OKOLICIOUZ⁠" Glowaty kept Virtus.pro well in the lead after the CT-side pistol, which they were able to follow up in the anti-eco. With Vegi at the helm, Virtus.pro won a clean first gun round, going on to win it out, 16-5, to lock down their map pick.

The second map, Dust2, also started with Virtus.pro taking the pistol round, on the CT side, making it three for three, but once guns were bought it was BIG who were able to tie it up with two rounds in a row. A failed A play on short by the German side kept Virtus.pro, who won it cleanly, in the lead. One frag by each Polish player in the sixth round made it 4-2, pushing BIG into an eco. The Poles then started to dominate the map, once again taking a 7-2 lead, but BIG were able to bring it back with two in a row, making it 4-8 before winning an anti-eco to keep the streak going and closing the half out with a close 7-8 scoreline.

Having won the second pistol round, BIG took the lead for the first time in the series, 9-8, before hitting double figures. The first round of the second half ended with a 2vs2 afterplant on B which Michał "⁠MICHU⁠" Müller and Snax were able to win. It was looking like game over for the Poles as BIG took charge on the defense, only giving one more round up until hitting map point, making it 15-10, but a last-ditch effort by Virtus.pro winning five rounds in a row got them into overtime as MICHU beat Tizian "⁠tiziaN⁠" Feldbusch in a 1vs1 afterplant on round 30.

Virtus.pro then won the first round of overtime off the back of a double entry by OKOLICIOUZ with flash assists by MICHU. Snax and Vegi were then able to win a 2vs3 afterplant on B to secure the second round, before going on to secure three match points. They then closed it out on the first round of the CT side to take the map and series and move on to the next round of bracket play in Lisbon.