Virtus.pro reverse sweep Spirit and survives another day at IEM Summer

Virtus.pro had to work hard to qualify for the next match in the lower brackets of Group B at IEM Summer. YEKINDAR and company made a fine comeback to win 2-1 against Spirit.

It was Team Spirit who started the CIS brawl best. On Dust2 they completely silenced Virtus.pro's reliable riffler, YEKINDAR, who was 2-19 in K-D after the first 20 rounds! In the last seven rounds of the map, the Latvian took his revenge though and went 12-6. But it was still not enough for VP, who had to surrender Dust2 11-16.

But YEKINDAR had found the momentum which was important going into Inferno. Here Virtus.pro quickly established a big 12-3 lead. In typically VP fashion they played the entire second half taking no risks, and cruised home a 16-9 win.

And then it was time for Ancient! The new map in the pool was set as the decider. For both, it was the first time ever in a competitive match. The map has already gotten a reputation for being slightly CT-sided, which was evident in this match. Spirit won their CT side 10-5, which put Virtus.pro under big pressure before their turn.

But with Qikert as the mastermind, Virtus.pro went to war on Ancient and began the comeback. Despite losing the first two rounds of the second half, VP hauled in the lead and actually had the chance of winning at 15-13. But then Spirit finally adjusted and answered back. And then the match went to overtime.

Spirit got off to a perfect start in the overtime winning two T-rounds. But Virtus.pro managed to replicate that and even do it better to win Ancient 19-17 and knock out Team Spirit from the event after four hours of Counter-Strike.

Virtus.pro move on to the next round of the lower bracket, where they will face Ninjas in Pyjamas for the last spot in the playoffs at IEM Summer.

Team Spirit - Virtus.pro (1-2) | IEM Summer

16-11 (Dust2) | mir – 1.26 Rating / 22-21 K-D / 95.4 ADR

9-16 (Inferno) | Qikert – 1.18 Rating / 16-16 K-D / 81.1 ADR

17-19 (Ancient) | mir – 1.37 Rating / 35-25 K-D / 88.7 ADR

MVP: Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev – 1.25 Rating / 73-58 K-D / 88.2 ADR