HEROIC make Cologne Stage 2 over struggling VP

The majority-Russian squad has now won one out of their last eight games.

HEROIC defeated Virtus.pro in a two-map series (Overpass 13-8, Mirage 13-10) to qualify for the IEM Cologne Stage 2 and eliminate Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov's men from the tournament.

Overpass was the series' first battleground, and HEROIC made the most out of their CT-side start to take an early 8-4 lead. Virtus.pro's pistol round gave them a glimmer of hope, but their B-site defense left much to be desired and allowed HEROIC to inch towards victory.

In the closing stages, Linus "⁠nilo⁠" Bergman took over with six kills in two rounds to get his team up to map point, which they converted at the first time of asking.

Mirage began as one-way traffic for Virtus.pro, who ran away to a 6-1 lead before Andrey "⁠tN1R⁠" Tatarinovich stopped the rot with an impactful triple kill. That helped HEROIC secure four rounds at the switch despite visibly being second-best, with a second-half pistol getting them within one round of Virtus.pro.

HEROIC, buoyed by their pistol victory, kept up their momentum in the latter stages of the map, as tN1R dominated proceedings and even found an ace late on. His 27 kills helped HEROIC secure a 13-10 win, which proved more than enough for a Stage 2 spot.

HEROIC win battle of early Overpass adopters

In a battle between two teams to pick Overpass on the first day of IEM Cologne, HEROIC corrected their errors from their debut loss against Ninjas in Pyjamas. The nilo and Gleb "⁠gr1ks⁠" Gazin combo on A was much more solid, which helped them secure eight on the defensive side, while successful B-pops were the backbone of an impressive offensive side.

Virtus.pro, who no doubt counted on the map to give them a boost after a lacklustre period of results, left much to be desired on the map, as their B defense, consisting of Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy and Petr "⁠fame⁠" Bolyshev, wasn't able to lock down that part of the map.

VP rotten run of form continues

Virtus.pro ended the spring season by going out of the BLAST.tv Austin Major with a 2-3 record after starting the tournament with two best-of-one victories. That prompted the organization to swap out Timur "⁠FL4MUS⁠" Marev for Perfecto, but the form has remained far from ideal.

Out of the five matches with Perfecto, Virtus.pro have won just one (a 2-0 win over TYLOO), and have now suffered two early exits. While their new addition has averaged a 1.00 rating across the two tournaments, the second-best in the team, the results speak of a team that has lost its way.