Virtus.pro advance to Thunderpick playoffs over fnatic

fnatic suffered a group-stage exit after losses to Virtus.pro and Cloud9.

Virtus.pro qualified for the Thunderpick World Championship playoffs after winning the Group A decider against fnatic.

The Russian squad continued their good online performances with the victory as they recently qualified for the Roobet Cup playoffs after defeating Spirit and Movistar Riders. They have now done the same in Thunderpick with wins against Ninjas in Pyjamas and fnatic.

Conversely, fnatic are in a rough patch. The European combine suffered an early elimination at IEM Sydney and have now ended their participation in both of the aforementioned online cups during the group stage.

Virtus.pro picked Overpass in the series, and the Russian squad got off to a hot start on their map choice. A quick B attack in the pistol secured them the early momentum, which they converted to a 6-0 lead before fnatic got on the board. That did little to change the fortunes of the black-and-orange squad, however, as they found just one more round on their CT side and eventually petered out in a 2-13 loss on the map.

fnatic's choice was Inferno, where the European combine had a much better performance. They tied up the first half after William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman's 1vs3 clutch, and the teams remained close after the switch. mezii was once again the hero as the Brit defused the bomb after a massive mistake by Virtus.pro, which moved the map into overtime.

Three OTs were needed to find a victor in the marathon affair, but fnatic closed out the game after consecutive A attacks. Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson and mezii both had fantastic maps, and their performances meant that fnatic moved the series to the Ancient decider.

Virtus.pro ran away to an 8-0 lead to start the decider map, and all signs pointed towards a repeat of Overpass. fnatic didn't throw in the towel, however, and reduced the deficit to 6-8 after a small resurgence. Virtus.pro prevented the European combine from tying up the scores, and then repelled two consecutive B attacks to close out a 13-10 victory to book their spot in the playoffs.