EN DE CN BR ES RU
Image
Icon

Virtus.pro Beat Fnatic in cs_summit 7 Grand Finals

The CIS team has kicked off 2021 with a proper victory. FURIA, mousesports, Fnatic, and the Ninjas in Pyjamas... Fabio | 1. February 2021

The CIS team has kicked off 2021 with a proper victory. FURIA, mousesports, Fnatic, and the Ninjas in Pyjamas have all failed to stop this roster in its tracks. Now, Virtus.pro already hold a tournament victory this early on in the year, and are looking like they might be aiming for some bigger trophies soon.

The return of Virtus.pro has been in the works ever since Flashpoint Season 2. The legendary organization, once host to the infamous Polish lineup led by Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas, had unfortunately retreated from the highest tier of competition years ago. Countless roster changes unfurled, until VP pushed the reset button and kicked the entire team. At the end of 2019, they signed the AVANGAR lineup and wanted to start anew. More than a year later, they are finally seeing the results.

VIRTUS.PRO REMAINED UNDEFEATED AT CS_SUMMIT 7

Dzhami “Jame” Ali led his team to a 2-0 Opening Match victory over the Ninjas in Pyjamas. In doing so, he secured a 1.64 rating and only left 11 rounds for the Ninjas to acquire. Afterwards, they faced off against FURIA, whom they also defeated on two straight maps. Through the Last Chance Stage, the Ninjas eventually still booked their playoffs ticket. Unfortunately, they had to revisit VP in the Quarter Finals. Even though Simon “twist” Eliasson and his men put up a much better performance, they still fell on two close maps. Once again, Jame delivered 45 kills for a 1.44 rating.

However, mousesports were next in line. Finn “karrigan” Andersen and his troops had been in great shape so far – so much so that Virtus.pro were finally expected to lose. Instead, Sanjar “SANJI” Kuliev took over the lead and delivered 39 kills on Train and Dust2. With 16-6 and 16-5 wins, he and his team threw mousesports out of the tournament and positioned themselves as the top favorites for the Grand Finals. Frederik “acoR” Gyldstrand, the new mouz AWPer, only posted 16 total kills.

The Grand Finals were over almost as quickly. On Inferno, Fnatic got close to VP, but Jame and Timur “buster” Tulepov made sure that their team would scrape past on a 16-14 scoreline. On Vertigo, Virtus.pro were back in the driving seat again. Following a closely contested CT half, they mounted a near-flawless offensive for a 16-8 victory. In doing so, Jame and his men achieved something that very few teams have done in history – win a big tournament without losing even a single map.

MOUSESPORTS WITHOUT KARRIGAN?

The mouz organization has definitely achieved a lot with karrigan at the helm. Without any doubt, he is one of the best in-game-leaders in the world. Even though his individual level is often not enough to contend with the best teams, he manages to squeeze so much performance out of his star players that the team as a whole can climb to the top. While mousesports have profited off of this trait, the FaZe Clan wants in on it too.

Ever since karrigan departed the FaZe Clan, they had to watch as a team filled to the brink with star players was unable to consistently remain within the Top 10. Without a proper in-game-leader, these talented individuals just lacked the necessary leadership. The management apparently has taken years to accept this, but now, FaZe want karrigan to come back.

This move makes absolute sense from the perspective of karrigan. Being 30 years old, his career won’t last forever and the Clan will surely offer him a more than competitive salary. On top of that, he is being brought into a lineup with Marcelo “coldzera” David, Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, and Helvijs “broky” Saukants. These three players all have the potential to reach the top – be it for the first or the second time. Looking at Robin “ropz” Kool, karrigan has definitely proven that he can help his colleagues fulfill on this kind of potential. This gives him a promising chance to build and lead the best team in the world.

But for now, another team is stepping into the limelight. Virtus.pro have shown that they’re ready for the next tier of competition. Now that they have beaten all these lineups at cs_summit 7 this decisively, will they actually stand a chance against teams like BIG, Liquid, Vitality, or even Astralis?