Virtus.pro beat Sinners to secure first victory in Group B

Virtus.pro are now sitting on a 1-2 record on their road to recovery from a tough start to the group.

Virtus.pro have put their first win on the board in ESL Pro League Season 14, defeating SINNERS 2-0 in the third round of play in the round robin. With the victory, the CIS side have tied the Czechs in the bottom half of the group at a 1-2 record and look to continue their recovery from the poor start in their final matches of the group against Complexity and G2.

Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis commented on Virtus.pro's struggles in the opening two matches against OG and FORZE, explaining that their individual form has been lacking. "Now we have some game-wise issues and the individual form of players that is the main problem at the moment," he said.

"When we lost against forZe we knew we need to win three games," YEKINDAR went on to say when asked about the team's chances to come back from the 0-2 start to the group. "It's going to be do or die, and I believe we usually do the best gameplay when we're in these situations."

SINNERS picked Vertigo for the third consecutive time in the group in a choice that did not end up paying dividends after Virtus.pro got off to a flying start on the opening map. Sanjar "⁠SANJI⁠" Kuliev's triple in the pistol round marked the beginning of a dominant run from the CIS team on the CT side, and from there the favorites remained in control.

After SINNERS found a sliver of a chance late in the first half, the Czech side switched over to the defense with three to their name and closed the gap to five rounds on the back of heroics from Adam "⁠NEOFRAG⁠" Zouhar. They were unable to capitalize on openings in the next few rounds, however, and Virtus.pro found the closing they needed before the affair got too close, at 16-9.

Inferno was more of the same, as Virtus.pro once again led 7-0 before SINNERS could find their feet, in part thanks to Aleksei "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev's ace in a 2v5 situation in round five. Up 11-4 at halftime, Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali's team had the cushion they needed to withstand a good start to the second half from the Czechs, eventually clinching two key rounds on the A site to break their opponents' economy and drive the series home at 16-11.