Virtus.pro outclass SAW in Katowice

The IEM Cologne semi-finalists are the first team to be sent packing in Poland.

Virtus.pro live to fight another day in the IEM Katowice Play-In after defeating SAW 2-0 in an elimination match. After a woeful showing against paiN on Wednesday, the Russian side turned in a much-improved performance today in a series they controlled from the initial exchanges.

It was without a doubt Virtus.pro's best display since the organization signed Timur "⁠FL4MUS⁠" Marev and Kaisar "⁠ICY⁠" Faiznurov at the end of last year. The team's longest-standing players, Petr "⁠fame⁠" Bolyshev and Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev, led the charge today against an opponent that was second best in every department.

fame had a fantastic performance throughout the series, especially on Dust2, where he posted a 2.10 rating. Inferno saw every player on the Russian side work hard for the cause, with Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov topping the scoreboard.

"I'm looking at the best teams and learning a lot from them," electroNic told James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks after the match.

"I just want as good as I can be as an IGL. I'm trying to learn a lot of things from the other leaders. How they go through the game, how they call. I just want to be the best version of myself."

Virtus.pro will return to action on Friday against the loser of 3DMAX vs. MIBR, with the winner progressing to Stage 2 of the event.

Date	Matches
IEM Katowice 2025 Play-in
31/01/2025	Virtus.pro 16:45 MIBR	Match

fame leads by example

Prior to the match, fame had said that everyone on his team had to "step up" after the 2-0 thrashing at the hands of paiN. He took matters into his own hands and delivered a world-class performance on Dust2 on the CT side, racking up 18 frags and averaging 146 damage per round.

Today's performance will come as a major boost for Virtus.pro after the recent defeats. With two new players and a new IGL, fame said that it feels like "we're fighting against ourselves sometimes."

"We have our vision but we're still trying to find our playstyle," he said. "We're watching games, we're watching the meta. We're trying to improve our game in every possible way."

A rough start to 2025 for SAW

It's the third consecutive loss for SAW, who have yet to win a match since bringing José "⁠Shr⁠" Gil in to replace Michel "⁠ewjerkz⁠" Pinto. To make matters worse, their losses to BIG, GamerLegion and Virtus.pro were all 0-2 affairs.

Their Nuke picks against the first two teams ended in close losses, but with Virtus.pro banning the map, the Portuguese team went for Inferno. It was a complete disaster as they never found their footing in the game and struggled with the basics.

Date	Matches
BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 1
15/01/2025	SAW Finished 0:2 BIG	Match

Date	Matches
IEM Katowice 2025 Play-in
29/01/2025	SAW Finished 0:2 GamerLegion	Match
30/01/2025	Virtus.pro Finished 2:0 SAW	Match

"We changed a lot of things," Ricardo "⁠roman⁠" Oliveira said after the match. "We had to adapt a lot of positions. We had to put everyone comfortable. I don't want to use this as an excuse. We didn't show our level here.

"We are sad and a bit frustrated because we know we can do a lot better. On a positive note, we are using it as preparation for the next events.

"It's hard to do worse than this. I hope we can improve and learn from it. I can see progress, but there's so much work to do. We know it wasn't pretty, but we're here to work. I promise we will do a lot better next time."

SAW have only two weeks to get their morale back and work on their issues before they travel to Romania for their next event, PGL Cluj-Napoca.