Virtus.pro defeat sAw to claim DreamHack Open December title

The CIS squad were able to turn around a one map deficit after losing Inferno, their first pick of the series, to win the final 3-1.

Virtus.pro finished their year on a high note after winning the DreamHack Open December final over SAW to take home the $50,000 grand prize. The Portuguese team, who recently hit the top 30 in the world rankings and now sit just outside, looked to make a match of it early on, winning VP’s first map pick of Inferno, but weren’t able to keep up with the No. 11 team in the world as the final progressed.

Virtus.pro had to go the hard way to make the final in the first place, as they blundered against FORZE in the group stage. Having finished second in Group A meant they had to overcome one of the event’s favorites, Gambit, in the semi-finals, which they did in a tumultuous three-map series.

SAW had a slow start in the tournament on their way to the final, with a 1-2 loss to Nemiga in their opener, but picked up steam by eliminating Movistar Riders and then taking revenge on the Belarusians in the Group B decider. Ricardo "⁠AIm⁠" Almeida’s men then trampled FORZE in the playoff bracket to make it to the last match of the event.

The two teams kicked off the grand final winning each other’s map picks by ample margins, with SAW taking Inferno and Virtus.pro securing Vertigo. The CIS squad then won their second map pick, Train, taking the lead in the series after three maps and going on to secure a hard-fought overtime victory on Dust2 to win the final.

SAW displayed a very strong defense on the CT side of Inferno, Virtus.pro’s first map pick of the series, securing 11 rounds at the half, which proved enough to trade punches on the attack to secure a dominant 16-7 victory with a stellar Christopher "⁠MUTiRiS⁠" Fernandes finishing 26-13 and averaging 112 damage per round.

The second map of the best-of-five series, Vertigo, was a much closer affair early on as the two teams were all tied up after 12 rounds, but it eventually went the way of Virtus.pro on the typically harder CT side, 9-6. Although they gave up the second pistol round, the CIS squad ran away on the attack, losing just three rounds to win 16-9, bringing the series back to even.

The Portuguese squad started on the oft-preferred CT side on Train, but were unable to capitalize as Virtus.pro led 8-7 at the half, going on to dominate the defense by making great use of their AWPs with Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov ending up on top of the scoreboard and amassing a 1.44 rating in the 16-10 map.

Virtus.pro then flew out of the gate on Dust2, with Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis going on a rampage as his squad took an 8-0 lead before SAW could successfully defend on A for the first time. Ricardo "⁠roman⁠" Oliveira and company then won four in a row and despite the 4-11 half they still had fight in them, taking the lead going into the last rounds of the map, 14-12, in a great comeback attempt, but they weren't able to seal the deal and finally went down in overtime as Virtus.pro secured the map, series and DreamHack Open December title.

The final DreamHack Open December standings are:

1. Virtus.pro - $50,000
2. SAW - $20,000
3-4. Gambit - $10,000
3-4. FORZE - $10,000
5-6. Nemiga - $3,000
5-6. Espada - $3,000
7-8. Movistar Riders - $2,000
7-8. XSET - $2,000