fnatic see off Virtus.pro

fnatic came from behind to beat Virtus.pro 2-1 and progress to the grand final of the ESL ESEA Pro League (12-16 on de_cache, 16-3 on de_overpass and 16-9 on de_dust2).

The second semi-final was an exciting clash between the last two European teams still in contention: Virtus.pro, who had skipped the quarter-finals after topping their group on Thursday, and fnatic, who had given a great account of themselves against Keyd Stars the day before.

The opening map of this all-European contest was de_cache, a first for both teams here in this tournament. After a strong start from fnatic, Virtus.pro showed some strong play in gun rounds, but still it was a back-and-forth game until the end of the half as only one round separated the two teams.

Virtus.pro came out strongly from the break and won four rounds in a row, after which fnatic replied with four of their own. All close rounds seemed to be going the Swedes' way, but as the game wore on the Poles gained control of the tempo, which allowed them to seal a 16-12 success.

TaZ looked on point on de_cache 

Things started looking bleak for fnatic, who, however, took comfort in the fact that de_overpass, their choice of map, was coming next. A triple kill from Markus "⁠pronax⁠" Wallsten in the pistol round was a strong indicator that the Swedes were looking to bounce back from the early disappointment.fnatic managed to stay on top of the game for some more time before the streak eventually came to an end in the sixth round. However, Virtus.pro were unable to follow it up with another round win, which saw them go back to eco territory.The Swedish team would go on to take the scoreline to 9-1, forcing a timeout out of Virtus.pro. The move paid off as the Polish team claimed two rounds in a row, but they still had a mountain to climb to overturn the 3-12 deficit at the end of the half. Despite their best efforts, Virtus.pro were unable to prevent fnatic from winning the opening four rounds of the second half and running out 16-3 victors.

Things started looking bleak for fnatic, who, however, took comfort in the fact that de_overpass, their choice of map, was coming next. A triple kill from pronax in the pistol round was a strong indicator that the Swedes were looking to bounce back from the early disappointment.

fnatic managed to stay on top of the game for some more time before the streak eventually came to an end in the sixth round. However, Virtus.pro were unable to follow it up with another round win, which saw them go back to eco territory.

The Swedish team would go on to take the scoreline to 9-1, forcing a timeout out of Virtus.pro. The move paid off as the Polish team claimed two rounds in a row, but they still had a mountain to climb to overturn the 3-12 deficit at the end of the half. Despite their best efforts, Virtus.pro were unable to prevent fnatic from winning the opening four rounds of the second half and running out 16-3 victors.

flusha was on fire on de_overpass 

The decider map was de_dust2, where a three-round streak from fnatic on the Terrorist side came to an end thanks to an ace from Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski in the B site. Virtus.pro were, however, unable to build up their economy as they spurned a 5vs3 situation in the following round.

Virtus.pro then regained some ground and reduced the gap to 4-5, but fnatic were simply unstoppable in the dying stages of the half as they won six rounds in a row to bring the scoreline to 11-4 in their favor.

An aggressive strat from the Swedes in the pistol round as CT backfired tremendously despite Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell picking up two rounds early on. Virtus.pro would go on to cut the deficit to 9-12, but then a series of rounds went fnatic's way, breaking the economy of the Polish players and shattering their dreams of reaching the grand final.

ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 FinalsBest of 3 Virtus.proMatchpage 1 2 4th July 2015 fnatic 16Cache 12 3Overpass 16 9Dust2 16

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	58 - 42	+16	-	1.22
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	60 - 45	+15	-	1.21
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	54 - 48	+6	-	1.08
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	45 - 44	+1	-	1.00
Markus 'pronax' Wallstenpronax	39 - 46	-7	-	0.88

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	51 - 51	0	-	1.08
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	51 - 53	-2	-	0.97
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	44 - 50	-6	-	0.90
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	40 - 53	-13	-	0.81
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	38 - 49	-11	-	0.78

Filip 'NEO' Kubski Age: 28 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 754 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 Jesper 'JW' Wecksell Age: 20 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 612 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.67 Markus 'pronax' Wallsten Age: 24 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 584 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.64