Virtus.pro send Eternal Fire to Last Chance stage

The Turkish side are down to their last tournament life.

Virtus.pro defeated Eternal Fire in a two-map series to send the Turkish side down to the Last Chance stage. The series started on Vertigo, where Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali and company secured a comfortable 16-10 victory before finishing the job with a 16-12 win on Inferno.

Despite their victory, Dastan "⁠dastan⁠" Akbayev remained grounded in his post-match comments. "We need a lot of work. You can't fix everything in one month because you need to play a lot of official games."

Virtus.pro's next challenge will come against the winner of Cloud9 vs. Liquid in the mid-bracket final on Saturday at 16:00 , while Eternal Fire will fight for their tournament lives against the loser of the aforementioned game.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
23/09/2023	Virtus.pro 17:10 Liquid	Match
23/09/2023	Eternal Fire 21:20 Cloud9	Match

Virtus.pro began Vertigo with a 9-3 start on their CT side, which was enough for them to close out the map comfortably. The Turkish squad found a second wind after winning a force-buy in the second round of their defense and got up to 10, but Jame and company didn't let up. They secured a 16-10 win after Jame clutched a 1vs2 on the B site and moved the series on to their pick of Inferno.

David "⁠n0rb3r7⁠" Danielyan started Inferno with a quad-kill in the pistol round, which his team converted to a 6-1 lead. The Russian squad then reverted to their signature playstyle, which meant they often ran out of time to hit the bombsite and allowed Eternal Fire back into the game. The Turkish squad made the most out of the opportunity and eventually won the half with an 8-7 scoreline.

Virtus.pro were much better on their defense and lost just four rounds despite Eternal Fire coming close several times. Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker fumbled a 1vs1 as he failed to find the bomb, and the round loss let Virtus.pro get up to match point, which they converted with a 16-12 victory.