Virtus.pro qualifies for The International 12

In Eastern Europe, the regional qualifier for The International 12 did not have a single big favorite. That’s because the three strong teams in the region, Team Spirit, 9Pandas, and BetBoom Team, managed to finish the Dota Pro Circuit in the top 12.

With them directly qualified for TI12, a lot of relatively weak teams were left to compete for the last TI spot reserved for the region. Given Virtus.pro’s prestigious past and the fact that the team’s roster is led by Artsiom “fng” Barshak, it feels like the best competitor won.

The other teams that could have realistically won the race are Nemiga Gaming, HYDRA, and One Move. Natus Vincere, because of their obscure roster, had almost zero chances.

One strange fact about this EEU qualifier is that Natus Vincere had two teams competing in it. The main Na’Vi squad and the academy team, NAVI Junior. Sooner or later, Valve will need to start imposing stricter rules to avoid conflicts of interest.

From the outside, for someone who is used to watching traditional sports, situations like this one look absolutely unreal.

Excellent performance by @Fnggshka deserves the Winline MVP 🔥 pic.twitter.com/bklWuragCx

— Virtus.pro (@virtuspro) August 26, 2023

Virtus.pro’s path to victory

VP started their campaign in the upper bracket with a victory against Matreshka. The match ended after just two games and lasted just 55 minutes in total. Fng’s team used drafts that excel in the physical department, picking heroes like Lycan, Gyrocopter, Sven, Ember Spirit, and Vengeful Spirit.

In the second match of the upper bracket, Virtus.pro encountered Natus Vincere and lost game 1 after nearly 72 minutes of pure struggle. Their Terrorblade wasn’t able to deal with Na’Vi’s Sven, and the rest of VP’s roster was not designed to win an ultra-late game.

In games 2 and 3, the situation looked much better for fng’s team. The heroes were clearly picked to dominate the lanes and then snowball from there. In both cases, the fight ended after around 34 minutes.

In the upper bracket Final and then the Grand Final, VP encountered One Move, an organization that doesn’t seem very impressive on paper but managed, nonetheless, to qualify for the Grand Final.

VP completely dismantled them. The scores were 2-0 and then 3-0. Quite interestingly, in four of the five games, VP picked Earthshaker. Sven was picked three times, Dark Willow was picked four times, and Troll Warlord was picked two times. The versatility index was low, but the strategies worked to perfection.

Header: Virtus.pro