Virtus.pro send mousesports packing in Budapest

Virtus.pro are through to the grand final at the V4 Future Sports Festival after securing an upset victory over MOUZ in just two maps.

"We are still confident whether it is NiP, mousesports, or MIBR." Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski had already hinted after the victory over the Swedes that this was a different Virtus.pro that we were watching, that something had changed within the team, who have been away from the limelight for a long time - their last Big Event being BLAST Pro Series Istanbul 2018, exactly a year ago.

No-one knew exactly how they would perform once things got rough, but they certainly passed this test with flying colours, dispatching MOUZ - the highest-ranked team in attendance and the heavy favorite for the victory - in little over two hours. For the entirety of Mirage, we witnessed the Virtus.plow mode again as MOUZ were outplayed and outsmarted by the energetic Poles. Inferno was a much tighter affair, but Virtus.pro kept their composure, even when MOUZ were enjoying their best period of the game, and capitalised on a crucial mistake to run away with the game.

The Polish team came out with all guns blazing and took control of proceedings almost from the offset on Mirage. It was a performance reminiscent of the old days for the Polish side, who ran all over the defense, a 1v2 Michał "⁠snatchie⁠" Rudzki clutch in the final round rubbing further salt into MOUZ' wounds and setting the score at 12-3 - a disastrous scoreline for Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's charges, especially considering that they had won the pistol round.

More misery was to come for MOUZ, who lost the second half pistol following a timely flank by Snax, who delivered his best performance on LAN since February 2018. That would up being the final nail in mouz's coffin as Virtus.pro continued their dominance by claiming a 16-3 victory.

MOUZ looked livelier on Inferno, their map pick, and this time managed to put together a string of rounds after winning the pistol. However, Virtus.pro tightened up and gradually took the upper hand, ending the half up 9-6 following some great late rounds by Michał "⁠MICHU⁠" Müller.

Virtus.pro further added to their lead following a successful B hit in the pistol round and followed that up with the next two rounds, bringing the scoreline to 12-6. Once MOUZ had money in the bank, the complexion of the game changed immediately: the European mixture assembled a watertight defense and lost just one of the next eight rounds to restore parity at 13-13.

It looked like MOUZ had the game under control, but then a small misstep while defending B proved costly and gave Virtus.pro some renewed momentum. karrigan's charges still tried to push for overtime, but a trio of kills by Snax in an A execute sealed the deal for the Poles, who look to be slowly on their way back to prominence.