ESL Dubai: Virtus.Pro Clinches the Championship Against Team Solo Mid
The Polish legends have clinched the first post-major title after beating red-hot Team SoloMid, 3-2. It was after a very good performance against Swedish giants, Fnatic, during the ESL One Cologne 2015 semi-finals, bringing them to three maps.
The pick and ban phase saw the Danish side pick Overpass and Dust 2, while the Poles took Train and Cobblestone for themselves, with Mirage as the deciding map.
In the first map, TSM took the first half on the Counter-Terrorist (CT) side with a score of 10-5. Once they changed sides, however, the rounds became unpredictable as Virtus.Pro slowly went into “plow” mode on the back of performances from Pawel “byali” Bielinski and Jarosław “pashaBiceps” Jarzabkowski. But it was not enough as the Danes under the leadership of Finn “karrigan” Andersen strung enough rounds in order to take the map 16-13.
On Train, the Polish side simply played magnificently on the defensive side of the map, mounting up strong defenses and setting up retakes whenever their opponents take on a certain site. With the first half ending on a comfortable 11-4 buffer, Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas and his men did not have to break a sweat as they grab their home map with a dominating score of 16-7 to tie the series at 1-1.
Then on Dust 2, another one of TSM’s “standard” maps, the Danish side showed why they are a force to be reckoned with on the server by force with a decisive scoreline of 16-3. It took ten rounds on the first half for the Poles to put themselves on the scoreboard and as for TSM’s part, they did not even let Virtus.Pro put a single point on the latter half of the map.
With the score now at 2-1 and with their backs to the wall, Virtus.Pro have now placed their faith on Cobblestone, a map which the Poles favored ever since it came out in the world of CS:GO, albeit with varying results.
Cobble became the venue where Filip “NEO” Kubski and TaZ showed up with their plays throughout the map, giving them a 9-6 advantage on the defensive side of a map that is otherwise thought to be heavily inclined towards the Terrorist side.
Once the sides changed, the Poles only allowed TSM to take one round while they powered their way throughout the map to take the sites, not allowing the Danish team to get a breather. It all ended in a 16-7 scoreline, thus bringing both sides to the final map.
After the castle brawl in which Virtus.Pro came out on top, it all came down to the deciding map on Mirage where the Poles started on the CT side of the map. This time around, TaZ and company showed why they are one of the kings of the map by ending the first half of the map at 12-3.
However, in the second half, TSM showed mental fortitude to bring it back to 13-13. Still, the Polish side found a way to end the game in the dying rounds of the map to end it at 16-14 and win the ESL ESEA Dubai Invitational.
For winning the tournament, the Polish side takes home $100,000 in cash while the Danes get $60,000 for their heroic efforts.
Here are the final results of the tournament:
Virtus.Pro = $100,000
Team SoloMid = $60,000
Fnatic = $25,000
Ninjas in Pyjamas = $25,000
EnVyUs = $12,500
Titan = $12,500
Natus Vincere = $7,500
Cloud 9 = $7,500
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