Virtus.pro secure ESL Challenger Katowice trophy over ENCE

On their return to LAN play after a disastrous attempt to qualify for the Paris Major, Virtus.pro have secured a title.

Virtus.pro have won the ESL Challenger Katowice trophy by defeating ENCE 2-1 in the grand final, winning Overpass 16-4 and Mirage 16-14 either side of a 14-16 loss on Anubis. With their grand final appearance, Virtus.pro also secured a spot in the next season of ESL Pro League.

It was a hugely successful tournament for Virtus.pro upon their return to LAN play after their recent failed Major qualification campaign. The team had withdrawn from IEM Rio to focus on training and from IEM Dallas due to visa issues, and as such have been absent from offline play since ESL Pro League S17. They romped through this tournament only dropping a map to ENCE in the final, and were good value for their win in said final.

In order to reach the final Virtus.pro had to dispatch of 9z whilst ENCE took down FORZE, both teams making relatively easy work of their matchups. Virtus.pro strolled through their South American opponents on Ancient and Inferno comfortably, preventing 9z from hitting a double-digit score on either map. ENCE needed a strong CT side on Nuke to ensure a one-map advantage against FORZE, before they trounced the Russians on Overpass to earn a grand final berth.

The grand final began on Overpass, Virtus.pro’s pick, and the Russian squad made quick work of their European counterparts. David "⁠n0rb3r7⁠" Danielyan came out all guns blazing as his team started on T side, ripping through the ENCE defence time and time again to drive Virtus.pro to an 11-4 half. A second-half pistol victory allowed Virtus.pro to quickly convert the map 16-4.

Anubis, ENCE’s map choice, was a far closer affair. ENCE began on the T side and ran out to an early lead thanks to their up-tempo, aggressive approach, with Virtus.pro struggling to make a passive defensive style work. By throwing in a few more info-gathering pushes Virtus.pro improved their prospects, and this combined with a couple of clutches granted them a 7-8 score at the half.

ENCE took their CT pistol and ran with it all the way to a 11-7 lead, before Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev’s hero-AK purchase cracked opened a round through middle and allowed Virtus.pro to get on the board. Virtus.pro then started to find success with their methodical, slow-paced offense, slowly constricting ENCE round after round all the way to 14. ENCE managed to find a way to stop Virtus.pro at the perfect moment, overwhelming the Russians with a cobbled together force-buy before converting the following gun round, to win Anubis 16-14 and force the decider of Mirage.

Opening Mirage on the T side ENCE raced to a convincing early lead, repeatedly executing onto the A bombsite to great success, often finding Aleksei "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev isolated in defence of the site. Virtus.pro eventually managed to find their feet and grind their way back, Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali and Qikert providing multi-kills to help them on their way, but ENCE did just enough to win the half 8-7.

The second half began with ENCE in imperious form, the European squad winning five of the first six rounds to put themselves firmly in the driver’s seat. Virtus.pro managed to make a force-buy execute onto the A site work, allowing them to break their opponent’s economy and bring the scores close. Ultimately Petr "⁠fame⁠" Bolyshev and FL1T’s entry work proved too much for ENCE, and Virtus.pro took a 16-14 win to take the trophy.

Virtus.pro have been quietly working themselves back into shape after their disastrous attempt to qualify for the BLAST Paris Major, the aftermath of which saw Aleksandr "⁠KaiR0N-⁠" Anashkin removed from the squad. n0rb3r7 came back into the fold and the team withdrew from events like IEM Rio to get back into shape, and the initial signs here at ESL Challenger Katowice have been promising.

All five of Virtus.pro's players were in the top-five rated for the event, they dropped only one map on their way to the trophy, and only looked seriously threatened when they played ENCE. All in all, it was a successful return to LAN play for the Russian side.

ENCE have gone from strength to strength since adding Guy "⁠NertZ⁠" Iluz to the squad, starting with a top-four showing at ESL Pro League and culminating in a trophy-winning campaign at IEM Dallas. Amongst a lesser field such as the one at ESL Challenger Katowice ENCE were always going to be a favourite, and their failure to win the tournament will be a disappointment. However, Virtus.pro’s lack of official matches recently made them an unknown quantity, and it was a close series that might have ended differently on another day.