Virtus.pro take down Heroic at ICE Challenge

Virtus.pro have kicked off their ICE Challenge campaign with a 2-0 victory over HEROIC with wins on Overpass (16-8) and Vertigo (16-14) to move on to the Group A winners' match.

Virtus.pro have taken a step in the right direction with a win here in London after a string of poor results, which saw them finish dead last in their previous two tournaments. The pressure will now be on the Kazakh side to prove they have turned a corner as they will look to continue their winning ways in the next round of the ICE Challenge.

The beginning of the series looked promising for Virtus.pro as they opened their opponent’s map pick of Overpass with a 4-0 start on the Terrorist side, but proceedings soon took a turn as a Johannes "⁠b0RUP⁠" Borup 1v2 clutch in the fifth round got HEROIC on the board and the Danes kept their foot on the gas moving forward. Frequent impact frags from Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen spearheaded HEROIC to eight straight rounds, however, clutches from both Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali and Aleksei "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev helped Virtus.pro narrow the round deficit to just 7-8 at the halfway mark.

Jame’s troops looked like a different beast as they swapped over to the CT side, shutting down HEROIC’s offence time and again to assert control early on in the second half. Virtus.pro refused to slow down as the half progressed, steamrolling through the Danes to complete a flawless CT side to secure a 16-8 scoreline.

Having locked down their opponent’s map pick, Virtus.pro entered their choice of Vertigo with their confidence high. After dropping the opening two rounds, the Kazakh side started to find success with guns in hand, picking up five of the following six rounds to take a 5-3 lead on the defence. The two teams went on to trade three rounds apiece before HEROIC claimed the final round to chase a 7-8 disadvantage going into the second half.

A disastrous Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov blunder on the pistol handed Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer and co. a score-tying round, but Virtus.pro immediately recomposed to ensure they stayed ahead with four consecutive bomb plants. With the series slipping from HEROIC's grasp, the Danes tightened up their teamwork to find success repeatedly on the retakes to take a 14-13 lead for the first time since the start of the map. However, an outstanding performance from Qikert, which included numerous multi-kills, proved too much to handle for HEROIC as Virtus.pro edged over the line with a 16-14 win to book themselves a spot in Group A's winners' match.