VP edge North in a thriller series

Virtus.pro win an incredible series against North with a 2-1 scoreline (16-4 Overpass, 12-16 Cache, 16-13 Cobblestone) to move on to the semi-finals.

Overpass, the first map of the series, started poorly for North. The Danes kicked off their map pick by losing the Terrorist pistol round which was brought to an end with Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski knifing Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke, however, the worst was yet to come.

After losing the first gun round and being 5-0 down to Virtus.pro, North managed to plant the bomb for the first time, only to be denied the round by a 1v1 clutch from Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski. The dominance of the Poles continued as they shut down Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen's team map control efforts early, not allowing them to execute on the bomb sites.

Snax picked up an anti-eco Ace in the bathroom area to make it 8-0 for Virtus.pro allowing the plow to roll on. It was already 11-0 when North finally secured two entry kills and then traded a kill on Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński while entering the B bombsite and looked likely to secure their first round. Unfortunately for them, Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas and Snax combined to retake the site an unlikely situation, kicking it off with a crucial HE granade kill.

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Pasha was pretty immersed in the Overpass game

North finally got on the board in the last round of the first half, but moving into the second half 14-1 down and with the main stars of the team k0nfig, René "⁠cajunb⁠" Borg and Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif not performing—it was just a matter of time before Virtus.pro closed out the map and it was 16-4 in the end.

North managed a better start to the second map, Cache, securing the pistol and first gun round to go 4-0 up. However, a sloppy anti-eco from the Danes allowed Virtus.pro to get their first round off of a simple B rush that started a series of round wins for Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski and co.

Virtus.pro took the lead shortly, but a combination of MSL's aggressive play in a smoke in mid, cajunb's AWPing and Magisk's rifling allowed North to take the lead back and finish the half 9-6.

Following the terrorist pistol round win, North extended their lead to 14-7 before Virtus.pro finally managed to string some rounds together and fortified their economy. Snax and NEO brought out the double AWP setup in round 25 and got to a 12-15 scoreline utilizing it the two snipers effectively. That way all they could get though, as North kept their patience and successfully faked out the defending side to close out the game 16-12.

ruggah and cajunb high-fiving after winning Cache

On the third map, Cobblestone, Magisk stopped Virtus.pro's A site offensive with a USP-S ace, setting North up for a strong start in the decider.

After losing the first gun round, Virtus.pro managed to get the following one despite very low utility to make it 1-4, but couldn't continue with the momentum and were promptly reset. After a few eco's, Virtus.pro got another round, pushing the B site from multiple angles simultaneously - but lost the following round again, putting them on another eco.

Overall it was a Magisk show—the 18-year-old Dane dominated the often low economy Virtus.pro in the first half, finishing it with 29 kills for a 12-3 North lead. Virtus.pro started the second half strongly, winning the pistol and then proceeding to do what the Danish team did to them - kept them on a low economy and won the clutches.

At 11-13, North got good entries, put a bad plant from k0nfig denied cajunb the opportunity to hold the after plant. Soon after, the game was tied at 13-13 as the Poles managed another retake, this time a 3v2 on the A site.

With the game coming down to the wire and Virtus.pro's comeback looking more and more likely, North was coming close to getting rounds but were unable to get more than one Terrorist side round and let the map and series slip with a 16-13 scoreline.

ELEAGUE Major 2017Best of 3 Virtus.proMatchpage 2 1 28th January 2017 North 16Overpass 4 12Cache 16 16Cobblestone 13

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	71 - 46	+25	91.7	1.44
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	63 - 47	+16	86.6	1.28
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	52 - 51	+1	77.1	1.03
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	39 - 49	-10	61.5	0.85
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	39 - 51	-12	58.7	0.81

North	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	71 - 53	+18	98.9	1.30
René 'cajunb' Borgcajunb	45 - 46	-1	72.8	1.05
Kristian 'k0nfig' Wieneckek0nfig	44 - 55	-11	64.8	0.86
Ruben 'RUBINO' VillarroelRUBINO	43 - 51	-8	58.5	0.86
Mathias 'MSL' LauridsenMSL	40 - 59	-19	62.3	0.80

Professeur writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter.

Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas Age: 30 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1153 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.67 North #6 Ruben 'RUBINO' VillarroelRené 'cajunb' BorgMathias 'MSL' LauridsenEmil 'Magisk' ReifKristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke Mathias 'MSL' Lauridsen Age: 22 Team: North Rating 1.0: 0.91 Maps played: 993 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.72 René 'cajunb' Borg Age: 27 Team: North Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 892 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 Filip 'NEO' Kubski Age: 29 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1158 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66 Kristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke Age: 19 Team: North Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 497 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.69 Emil 'Magisk' Reif Age: 18 Team: North Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 399 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.63 Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski Age: 23 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 972 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 Paweł 'byali' Bieliński Age: 22 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 995 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.66 Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski Age: 28 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1104 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.69 Virtus.pro #4 Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiWiktor 'TaZ' WojtasFilip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiPaweł 'byali' Bieliński