Virtus.pro move past Vitality in London after Dust2 comeback

The Russian team moves on to Group B's upper bracket final.

Virtus.pro are through to Group B's upper bracket final at the BLAST Premier Spring Final after a 2-1 victory over Vitality in London.

It's a much-needed confidence boost for the Russians, who snapped a four-series losing streak. They were on the back foot for the entirety of Inferno and large swathes of Dust2 before pulling off a miraculous comeback from 5-11 down. That unlikely turnaround shifted the momentum in Virtus.pro's favor as they beat Vitality on Anubis 13-10 - a scoreline that doesn't reflect how dominant Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali's side was.

For Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's troops, it's certainly a hard pill to swallow. They will rue not making their early dominance count as they now face elimination in London against the loser of Spirit vs. G2 on Thursday,

Vitality got off to a flying start on Inferno, where they jumped out to an 8-0 lead on the CT side, with apEX raising eyebrows with a 1v2 clutch in the first full gun round. Virtus.pro didn't give up and stuck to their game plan, and they were finally rewarded in the ninth round, where Jame picked up three kills to his name.

That round win eventually turned into a four-round streak as Virtus.pro controlled the final stages of the half. It looked like the Russians were hitting their stride, but their comeback hopes were quickly quashed. One round was all that they could muster on the CT side, with apEX and Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut putting the game to bed in a 2v3 situation.

Vitality maintained their momentum and hopped out to a 6-1 lead on the T side of Dust2. Virtus.pro, who were looking to grab their first win on this map since it returned to the Active Duty map pool, tightened their defense and brought the deficit down to just two rounds before the break.

Vitality looked determined to end the game quickly as they retook control of the game after switching to the T side, increasing their lead to 11-5.

And that's when insanity began.

Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov kept Virtus.pro in the game with a trio of Galil frags. That was the start of a fantastic comeback by the Russian team, completed by a jaw-dropping ace by Petr "⁠fame⁠" Bolyshev in a 2vs5 situation.

All of a sudden, the tables were turned. A fire was lit underneath Virtus.pro's players as they came out guns blazing on Anubis and stormed to a 6-0 lead. ZywOo then put Vitality on the board with a quad-kill, but the international team struggled to keep their opponents at bay in the rest of the half as Virtus.pro picked up a commanding 9-3 lead.

Virtus.pro did not let up and quickly reached series point on the CT side. With no room for error, Vitality dug deep and enjoyed a spell of dominance, but they were stopped in their tracks before they could take the game to overtime.