The AWP role in Counter-Strike is still a big subject for discussion among all interested in the game. How can you utilize the "Big Green" the best way possible?

We asked Niels Christian "NaToSaphiX" Sillassen, a professional CS:GO player, to take a look at how some of the best players in the world play the role of an AWPer in two fundamentally different ways. Virtus.Pro's Dzhami "Jame" Ali and BIG's Florian "syrsoN" Rische are two representatives of two very different ways of approaching the role. But which one is preferred in the current meta?

You can see some of our other videoes with NaToSaphiX in the links below.

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NaToSaphiX

Jame

syrsoN

Both Astralis and Outsiders came into today with a fresh loss in the bag from the second round on Monday. Something, they managed to adjust this Tuesday in their respective matches against MIBR and Complexity at PGL Major Antwerp.

Astralis and MIBR’s map veto placed the match on Overpass, where the Danes didn’t hesitate to show MIBR who’s in charge. Through a forceful CT side, Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and the rest of Astralis set themselves in an advantage 12-3 position.

After such a dominant performance by Astralis, a butchery looked inevitable for MIBR. Yet, the matchup nearly went all the way due to a fantastic CT round by MIBR and especially chelo, which all though wasn’t enough to avoid the 16-13 loss.

Astralis – MIBR 1-0 | PGL Major Antwerp Challengers Stage

16-13 (Overpass) | {cflag:DK} blameF – 1.47 Rating / 23-15 K-D / 91.8 ADR

Outsiders – Complexity 1-0 | PGL Major Antwerp Challengers Stage

16-9 (Overpass) | {cflag:RU} Jame – 1.77 Rating / 23-5 K-D / 89.1 ADR

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blameF

Astralis

Virtus.pro

MIBR

compLexity Gaming

Group A at the European RMR campaign has been concluded with Outsiders as the last qualifier after a grueling match against sAw that went all three maps.

The Bo3 series was kicked off on Dust2 with the favorites from Outsiders being the ones picking the iconic map. Nonetheless, it was sAw who commenced the match the best as they quickly managed to set up a solid CT defense. sAw used the great start to gain momentum and post a potent 12-6 lead and thereafter also a 14-10. But there was one problem - they were playing against Dzami “Jame” Ali.

Slowly, round after round, Outsiders began to fight their way back as we have seen countless times in the past, closing the map 16-14 after a phenomenal comeback.

Ancient is one of sAw’s most picked maps, and the Portuguese side used the experience to completely annihilate Outsider’s offense, which lacked timing, precision, and firepower. sAw won Ancient 16-10 after a 10-1 victory in the second half.

Inferno was saved for the decider. The legendary map usually provides an exciting ending to a best of three match, which was also the case today. For sAw, this was the conclusion to their most important match in the history of the organization. It would be a monumental feat to secure qualification in the group of death at the European RMR event.

The Portuguese got off to a fine start on their CT winning 9-6. But it could have been so much better, with Outsiders winning five out of their six rounds after clutches! Jame was again the difference maker with three clutches won in the first half alone!

In the second half sAw kept on going, but then Outsiders did what they do best. Slowly the lead was minimized before the CIS team equalized the score at 14-14 before sending the match to overtime after another Jame clutch with a millisecond to spare! So close for the Portuguese who could have been the first Portuguese roster to qualify for a Major.

Instead, it was a huge disappointment for sAw who never really recovered from the loss to Jame. Outsiders did what they do best and grinded home the victory in overtime to qualify. What a match!

Outsiders – sAw 2-1 | PGL Antwerp Major Europe RMR A

16-14 (Dust2) | {cflag:LV} YEKINDAR – 1.31 Rating / 27-22 K-D / 103.6 ADR

10-16 (Ancient) | {cflag:PT} JUST – 1.59 Rating / 28-13 K-D / 88.2 ADR

19-16 (Inferno) | {cflag:RU} FL1T - 1.43 Rating / 34-24 K-D / 104.1 ADR

MVP: {cflag:RU} Evgeniy "FL1T" Lebedev - 1.29 Rating / 74-55 K-D / 88.0 ADR

Result of the Regional Major Ranking tournament in Bucharest with only the European Group B remaining:

Complexity – IHC – Renegades – Liquid – 9z – MIBR – Imperial Vitality – Eternal Fire – forZe – Outsiders

MOUZ – OG – Dignitas – Fnatic – Unique – GamerLegion – QUAZAR – sAw

Outsiders

Outsiders avoided a big upset after reverse sweeping Dignitas in the elimination match at the European RMR tournament in Bucharest.

For Outsiders, the event has been a massive disappointment so far. With losses against BIG and MOUZ, the CIS team has not been on the same level since they were forced to switch their name and logo due to their ties with the Russian Government.

On the server, it was only Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis, who showed up on the first map of Mirage. The Latvian entry-killer could not do it alone though, and could not prevent Dignitas to run away with the map in the end after a superb finish.

Inferno has been a solid map for Outsiders recently, and against Dignitas, it looked like the CIS team would equalize the score with a good start in the second half. But the Swedes again made a good finish and forced the match into overtime on Inferno. Here Outsiders immediately won the first three rounds and got the job done in the last round of the first overtime, where Jame showed his big value to the team in a 1vs1 situation.

The patience of Outsiders has often been praised. Their perseverance in overtimes and deciding maps are almost unmatched in CS:GO. So when Overpass loaded up as the last map of the day, it was Outsiders in the driver’s seat. Despite a worthy effort from Dignitas it was not enough in the end. Dignitas is out of the tournament, while Outsiders keeps the dream of the PGL Major in Antwerp alive.

Outsiders – Dignitas 2-1 | PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Europe RMR A 

10-16 (Nuke) | {cflag:NO} hallzerk – 1.45 Rating / 24-14 K-D / 95.4 ADR

19-17 (Inferno) | {cflag:RU} Jame - 1.46 Rating / 32-17 K-D / 95.3 ADR

16-14 (Overpass) | {cflag:LV} YEKINDAR - 1.61 rating / 26-18 K-D / 111.3 ADR

MVP: {cflag:NO} Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli - 1.26 Rating / 72-54 K-D / 85.4 ADR

hallzerk

YEKINDAR

Team Dignitas

The final match of the day had Outsiders going up against FaZe. Both teams looked to take their first win after disappointingly losing yesterday.

FaZe got off to a great start on their map pick of Inferno, as they won the first three rounds of the map on their T-side. The rest of the half was characterized by heavy tactical gameplay and many saves, which is not surprising considering the teams in play. FaZe barely got away with a lead of 8-7 at halftime.

Outsiders looked absolutely outstanding after the break, as they wrecked the defense of FaZe, and took every single round on their T-side, to win 16-8.

Outsiders continued the great play on the second map of Dust2, as they played a very convincing T-side. “buster”, especially, showed up in a big way, which helped them net a halftime lead of 9-6.

As they switched sides, FaZe quickly put themselves in the driver’s seat, as they were terrorizing the defense of Outsiders in a major way. Despite a semi-flat showing on the CT-side, Outsiders reached map-point at 15-14, but unluckily for the CIS-squad FaZe were not done with this Bo3, and the map went into overtime.

FaZe got into a good position in overtime by taking an 18-16 lead. Unfortunately, they squandered both opportunities to end the game and another overtime was needed. Outsiders kept it clean in the second overtime by taking each and every round and winning 22-18.

FaZe are now down 0-2 in Group B while Outsiders improve to 1-1.

Outsiders - FaZe 2-0 | ESL Pro League Season 15 (Group B)

16-8 (Inferno) | {cflag:RU} Jame – 1.47 Rating / 20-9 K-D / 82.9 ADR

22-18 (Dust2) | {cflag:LV} YEKINDAR – 1.18 Rating / 30-27 K-D / 86.8 ADR

MVP: {cflag:LV} Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis – 1.26 Rating / 49-37 K-D / 86.2 ADR

buster

FaZe

FURIA has for many years been known for their unique and fast-paced playstyle, led by the always aggressive Andrei “arT” Piovezan. Yesterday the Brazilians squared off against arguably their biggest antipode – Virtus.pro.

In a post-match interview with ESL, arT touches on the clash of playstyles and how it is to play against.

- It’s definitely a bit frustrating to play against Virtus.pro. Because on some maps, they are very passive and to punish us by just holding angles. On Overpass, I like to play aggressive with the AWP, but I can’t because they are punishing us everywhere. So yeah, it’s quite annoying.

Despite Outsiders/Virtus.pro’s slow-paced playstyle, FURIA still managed to end up victorious in the opening round matchup from Group B at ESL Pro League Season 15.

The South American heavy hitter is now on a joint first-place together with ENCE and Vitality, before taking on Sprout at 16:00 (CET) this Thursday.

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If you aren't that familiar with Virtus.pro's playstyle, then watch this video on the alreayd-iconic VP captain, Dzami "Jame" Ali.

FURIA

The first quarterfinal of the day had the star-studded lineup of G2 going up against the heavily team-focused Virtus.pro.

G2 chose to start the match on Mirage, the home of “m0NESY”, even though they’ve only won the map one out of three times so far at the tournament.

It was the European squad on the T-side that started best as they picked up the first three rounds of the map. After this point, it got really hard for G2 to take rounds. Virtus.pro, led by always-present “Jame”,  was consistently bashing them in mid and taking space in apartments and on ramp. “m0NESY” did though manage to carry his team to a respectable six rounds before the break.

G2 got right back into it as they quickly brought themselves into the lead 10-9 after switching sides. Virtus.pro looked really strong when they had full-buys and soon they found themselves back in the lead and looking like the favorites to take map 1. “m0NESY” had been consistent throughout the map, but it was the awakening of “huNter-“ and “Aleksib” that put G2 back in the driver’s seat. This allowed them to get map point, but unfortunately for them, they couldn’t close it out and the map went into overtime.

The map went into three overtimes as the teams couldn’t seem to separate from each other. G2 failed to convert on three map-points in overtime, but a 2v5 from “m0NESY” and “Aleksib” was what finally put them over the line at 25-22.

The action continued on Virtus.pro’s pick of Ancient where G2 on the CT-side, started the map out by securing their third pistol-round of the day. “huNter-“, “NiKo” and “JACKZ” were all scorching hot from the get-go, and this fueled G2 to a dominating early lead of 7-0. Virtus.pro, who has looked great on this map recently, had a very hard time finding answers throughout the half, and with only “Jame” putting up big numbers the halftime score was 12-3 in favor of G2.

The second half started out in an extremely scrappy way, with the teams just trading rounds back and forth in the force-buy wars. This meant that G2 very quickly were able to get to map point at 15-5 and close it out 16-5.

This result sees Virtus.pro knocked out of IEM Katowice, while G2 move on to face Na'Vi tomorrow.

22-25 (Mirage) | {cflag:RU} m0NESY – 1.39 Rating / 45-34 K-D / 98.4 ADR

5-16 (Ancient) | {cflag:BA} huNter- – 1.50 Rating / 17-8 K-D / 106.5 ADR

MVP: {cflag:RU} Ilya ”m0NESY” Osipov - 1.30 Rating / 58-40 K-D / 84.6 ADR

m0NESY

Aleksib

huNter

JaCkz

NiKo

G2 Esports

The time has come. The playoffs for the iconic IEM Katowice tournament is about to commence with six of the very best CS:GO teams in the world ready to fight for the massive $450.000 1st prize. 

The first matchup will be between Virtus.pro and G2 and will be played 15:30 (CET) - followed up by Gambit vs FaZe at 19:00 (CET).

Virtus.pro has commenced the year in strong fashion with the dominant CIS team already having secured their first trophy at ESL Challenger February 2022. And in this weekend, the Dzami “Jame” Ali-led side also managed to book a ticket for the prestigious IEM Katowice playoff, which is set to be played in front of thousands of fans in Spodek Arena.

VP’s next will be against G2 in the quarterfinal on Friday. Here, the Russian side can look forward to meeting Nikola “NiKo” Kovac, who may have been the best performing player in the world in the last couple of months. 

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In a press conference on Monday, Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis said the following about NiKo and playing against G2:

- It’s insane to think about a rifler having a 1.50 rating. I didn’t watch his games yet, but it will be interesting to see how he got that rating. (...) We are not going to pray for NiKo to have a bad day. We will focus on ourselves and try to make NiKo have a bad day, YEKINDAR said to Pley at a ESL press session.

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The last game of the day in the upper bracket featured Virtus.pro and NIP. They faced each other for a chance to play against Heroic in the Group A upper final on Sunday. 

The first team to pick a map was NIP and they unsurprisingly went with Overpass, a map that they have favored recently.

The Swedes were the first out of the gate, taking a 2-0 lead on their T-side. That was the last time in the first half that things looked bright for the Ninjas, because Virtus.pro took back the lead almost immediately, and kept it until halftime at 10-5.

The second half was almost a mirror image of the first with NIP starting best, but ultimately failing to keep a winstreak going, and Virtus.pro steal away the map pick of the Swedes at 16-9.

The action continued on Vertigo where “YEKINDAR” and “FL1T” were responsible for a brilliant 6-1 start to the VP t-side. The Ninjas came roaring back into the game with a four-round streak and all of a sudden it was a very tight game again. At halftime, the race was dead even at 8-7 in favor of Virtus.pro.

The Swedes continued their momentum from the first half as they picked up five rounds in a row to start the half. VP clawed themselves halfway back, but it was never really convincing for the CIS-team, and NIP took the victory 16-12.

The map chosen to be the decider was Ancient and had Virtus.pro starting as the terrorists while the Ninjas had to defend.

The map started off very back and forth, with no team really being able to string more than two rounds together. At the score of 4-4 Virtus.pro finally managed to take over control of the game and put a good amount of space between the two teams as they were able to win the last seven rounds of the half as T-side on the most CT-sided map in the pool.

The Ninjas started the second half with a much-needed small winstreak, to reduce the round deficit from seven to four. But once again the Ninjas were not able to keep the rounds coming and VP were able to win the map at 16-8.

Virtus.pro are now set to take on Heroic in the Group A upper final, while NIP will take on MOUZ in the lower semis.

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Overpass: 16-9 | Jame – 22/8 K-D | 81.9 ADR | 92.0% KAST | 1.59 Rating

Vertigo: 12-16 | REZ – 27/17 K-D | 97.5 ADR | 75.0% KAST | 1.40 Rating

Ancient: 16-8 | YEKINDAR – 22/13 K-D | 94.2 ADR | 83.3% KAST | 1.45 Rating

 Dzhami “Jame” Ali – 50/32 K-D | 66.1 ADR | 84.4% KAST | 1.29 Rating

FL1T

Ninjas in Pyjamas

ESL announced an interesting lineup for next month's ESL Challenger tournament.

HEET (former DBL Poney), Complexity (former Extra Salt), Order, and 9z Team have all qualified for the tournament in their respective regions. FURIA, Virtus.pro, Movistar Riders, and Dignitas will join them in the hunt for $50.000 in first prize.

The ESL Challenger tournament replaced the Anaheim LAN tournament that was supposed to take place in December last year.

HEET

Order

Movistar Riders

- With FL1T we can be higher than the sky.

The words came rapidly and with a great deal of confidence from Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis. We met the Latvian at the PGL Major in Stockholm, where the Virtus.pro star made it very clear, that the recent addition of Evgeniy "FL1T" Lebedev was the last puzzle they needed before they could raise their game to the next level.

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A month later at IEM Winter, the first glimpse of the Virtus.pro side has been very positive. With victories against GODSENT, Gambit, and ENCE, VP has made a flawless run to the Semi-Finals, where they will face Team Vitality.

- We do feel like favorites. We feel, that we are capable of winning this tournament. We are not afraid of any opposing team. But we also know, that if we are not cautious, we can lose to any of these teams, the Latvian entry-fragger told the press at a press conference before the Semi-Finals.

Here Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis repeated his high ambitions for the Virtus.pro roster, and when asked if VP could become the second-best CIS team in the world, he took it one step further.

- I think we are capable of taking first place in 2022.

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One of the things, that Virtus.pro has been known for, is their mathematical approach to the game. The Jame-time meme is still alive and kicking. 

At IEM Winter three Virtus.pro players are placed in the top four of players who have died the fewest times during a round (of course Dzhami "Jame" Ali is no. 1 on the list). Among them is Aleksei "qikert" Golubev, who immediately turned his inner calculator on, when asked if he could feel improvement from the Major.

- We have improved a lot. But it is not our maximum. I think we have improved 20% since the Major, but we still have some things, that we can work on. I think we can improve 25%, the assessment from the 22-year-old Kazakh sounds like.

Virtus.pro will face Team Vitality in the first semi-final on Saturday at IEM Winter.  

qikert

We have now reached the dire stages of the PGL Major 2021 in Stockholm where only eight teams remain in contention for a spot in the Grand Final and ultimately the Major trophy. Having reached the Quarter-finals we are left with only the best performing teams within the professional CS:GO scene. The first Semi-finalist was to be found between the Danes from Heroic and the CIS machine of Virtus.pro. Heroic were favorites going into the Bo3-series. Whilst it was in no way a one-sided affair, it was ultimately the Danes to take home the victory. With stellar performances on Mirage and Inferno, they secured a 2-1 victory, moved past their opposition, and secured a spot in the Semi-finals of the PGL Major 2021.

The first map was the choice of Virtus.pro and saw the Bo3-series start on Mirage. Despite being one of the most picked and played maps for the side of Virtus.pro, the Danish boys from Heroic are by no means strangers to the map of Mirage. It was also the Danes to get the best start on their CT-side. A strong start that was quickly contested by Virtus.pro, however. After winning six rounds in a row, it looked as if Virtus.pro had completely stunned Heroic. This, however, proved to not be the case, and “cadiaN” and his troops managed to regain control. The second half saw Heroic continue where they had left off. Outpacing the defending Virtus.pro roster they proved the stronger roster on Mirage. At the scoreline of 16-10, it was Heroic to claim the victory in the first map of the Bo3-series.

The second map of the series was to be played on Ancient and was, of course, picked by Heroic. With a win rate of only 20% in their latest five matches, it seemed a difficult task for the otherwise well-oiled CIS machine that is Virtus.pro. Despite their past difficulties with the map of Ancient, it was the Virtus.pro roster, with star AWP’er “Jame” at the forefront of the battle, to end the first half at the scoreline of 8-7 favoring VP. The second half saw Heroic trying to withstand the calculated moves of a T-sided Virtus.pro. With Ancient still being heavily CT-sided, it proved a difficult task for Virtus.pro to break down the defense of Heroic. Despite this, however, “Jame” led his team to victory in one close round after the other in the dying stages of Ancient. Due to risky economical choices from Heroic, it was all of the sudden too late. At the scoreline of 16-13, it was Vitus.pro to take home Ancient and force Inferno as the third and final map.

As mentioned, the third and final map was to be played on Inferno, a map that both teams are known to be incredibly strong on. Just as expected it was as close as possible in the first half of Inferno. With either team refusing to give their opponent an inch and both teams saving every possible penny, it was a back-and-forth half. At the scoreline of 9-6, Heroic were the slight favorites going into the second half of Inferno. The start of the second half was all Heroic as they came flying out of the gate and secured matchpoint at the impressive scoreline of 15-8. Despite a valid comeback attempt from Virtus.pro, it was a matter of time before the Danes secured the final round and claimed the victory. They did exactly that at the scoreline of 16-12 and secured themselves a spot in the Semi-finals of the PGL Major 2021. 

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Heroic – Virtus.pro (2-1) | PGL Major Stockholm 2021 (Quarter-finals)

refrezh – 1.35 Rating / 23-15 K-D / 87.2 ADR

Jame – 1.55 Rating / 28-16 K-D / 103.0 ADR

TeSeS – 1.49 Rating / 24-14 K-D / 86.9 ADR

René “TeSeS” Madsen| 1.15 Rating / 58-53 K-D / 79.1 ADR

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refrezh

TeSeS

Heroic

We have reached the Round of 16 in the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2021 event. Facing each other in a Bo3-series for a chance to further advance in the event was Virtus.pro and Movistar Riders. The Virtus.pro roster, with star player “YEKINDAR” leading the charge, were heavy favorites going into the series, however, the Spanish roster has shown major improvements throughout the last couple of months. Despite the ‘Riders’ getting their name out there and proving that they are no joke, Virtus.pro proved to be too big of a mouthful for them to handle. In just two maps, despite a close first map on Vertigo, it was Virtus.pro to take home the victory and advance to the Quarterfinals.

The first map was the choice of Movistar Riders and saw the Bo3-series start on Vertigo. Many critical points have been raised regarding the map and how it is only centered around the A-ramp. Both teams, however, proved that that isn’t necessarily the case. Virtus.pro came flying out of the gate and managed to shut down most of Movistar Riders’ T-sided strategies. At the halftime scoreline of 10-5, it seemed difficult for the Spanish players to regain control of their own map pick. However, whilst they would ultimately have to admit defeat on Vertigo, they managed to make it extremely competitive at the final scoreline of 16-14, favoring the Virtus.pro roster.

The second map of the series was to be played on Mirage and was, of course, picked by Virtus.pro. Mirage is by no means a map that Movistar Riders are very comfortable with. In their last five matches on Mirage, they have lost every single one of them. It seemed destined that Virtus.pro would add a sixth loss to the statistics of Movistar Riders, with a great start to the second map of the series. Once again, however, the Spanish boys managed to pull themselves back and make things at least somewhat competitive. Ultimately, however, it was Virtus.pro with a solid CT-sided performance to close Mirage and thereby also the Bo3-series at the scoreline of 16-8. The 2-0 victory means that Virtus.pro advance to the quarterfinals of the event.  

Virtus.pro – Movistar Riders (2-0) | BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2021 (Round of 16)

Jame – 1.23 Rating / 21-15 K-D / 85.3 ADR

YEKINDAR – 1.52 Rating / 24-14 K-D / 103.6 ADR

Dzhami “Jame” Ali| 1.33 Rating / 44-29 K-D / 87.3 ADR

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Every game in esports has that one, flashy role whose residents are rockstars. Mechanical masters whose sole responsibility is to ship out savory beatdowns. In Counter-Strike, it’s the AWPers.

There’s no denying that hose who’ve been entrusted with the Mighty Green are the showstoppers of Counter-Strike. Living, breathing highlight reels who’ll stop at nothing to churn out the most ludicrous clips imaginable. Well, nearly all of them.

Today, we’re here to pay our respects to Dzhami “Jame” Ali, the enigmatic AWPer who’s managed to cement himself as world-class not by taking fights but by avoiding them time and time again.

Despite being a more than capable fragger, Jame’s go-to instinct is never to lunge into battle. It’s to play with such passivity that, at the first sign of failure, he opts to retreat instead of retake. To save instead of slam. To instigate what the community calls “Jametime”.

Complexity continues their Cinderella story at ESL Pro League by eliminating Virtus.pro from the tournament after a very hard-fought match. The win sets Complexity up with a group final against OG tomorrow.

The match started with Virtus.pro domination with a brilliant map on Mirage. Dzhami 'Jame' Ali did the dirty job with his AWP, leading the team to a 10-5 lead at the break. And after a second half of trading rounds, Virtus.pro had stolen Complexity's map pick.

Dust2 started in similar fashion. Virtus.pro and Jame was in control and at 14-11, VP had every chance of quelling the late rebellion from Complexity, when Jame made the opening kill with another AWP hit. But then they fell apart. Again. Complexity's stand-in player Niels Christian 'NaToSaphiX' Sillassen came through with some crucial kills to help his temporary teammates to a 16-14 win.

The last map was Overpass. A map that went in the favor of Virtus.pro last time the two teams collided at IEM Cologne. But the momentum had swung in the way of Complexity. Despite losing the pistol round, Complexity plowed through the defense of VP throughout the first half leading 11-4 at the break. But as the most renowned coach of CS:GO once said.

Virtus.pro started an incredible comeback in the second half and took the lead at 14-13. But then Complexity found a way back best illustrated by Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer's incredible ace in the 29th round. 

Complexity sealed the deal in the last round and secured themselves a spot in the playoffs. A battle for first place awaits tomorrow against OG.

Complexity – Virtus.pro (2-1) | ESL Pro League Season 14

10-16 (Mirage) | {cflag:RU} Jame – 1.56 Rating / 24-13 K-D / 90.1 ADR

16-14 (Dust2) | {cflag:RU} Jame - 1.34 Rating / 23-15 K-D / 78.5 ADR

16-14 (Overpass) |{cflag:DK}  blameF - 1.48 Rating / 27-16 K-D / 100.9 ADR

MVP: {cflag:RU} Dzhami 'Jame' Ali - 1.35 rating / 68-41 K-D / 79.0 ADR

The “Russian Bears” from Virtus.pro got their first victory at ESL Pro League Season 14 yesterday, when they defeated Sinners 2-0 at Group B. Before that, the #5 team in the world had lost to both OG and forZe, two lower-ranked teams.

The slow start at Pro League for VP comes after a quite disappointing period for the team, where Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis and company has suffered some unsatisfactory exits and loses. In a post-match interview with ESL, YEKINDAR reflects on the current state of the team.

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In late 2020 and the early stages of this year, Virtus.pro was one of the best teams in the world of CS:GO and for some time “the team to beat”. Dzami “Jame” Ali and his troops took home huge titles at DreamHack Open December, cs_summit 7 and at the prominent Flashpoint 2, which granted them a massive $500.000 prize earning.  

Despite the impressive streak with three titles in a row from December to January, VP only has managed to qualify for two Grand Finals since, where they lost both to their countrymen from Gambit. A slump, which also can be seen in the stats. 

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It is five months ago, that Virtus.pro took home $180.000 and a second-place at IEM Katowice. Today they nearly got eliminated without winning a single map at IEM Cologne.

2021 has been a weird year for Virtus.pro. They started on a high note, but lately the results have been poor. On Mirage the downfall continued. None of the VP players ended the map with a positive K-D score and was handed a devastating 16-6 loss.

On their own map pick, Dust2, VP was once again dominated. Complexity had almost sent VP home without winning a map, but then something happened. First, it was Jame, then qikert, and then buster who made multiple kills during a round to complete a much-needed comeback to force the map to overtime. Here buster destroyed Complexity with an AWP ace to close off the overtime with Virtus.pro winning all four OT rounds.

Overpass was picked as the decider. Again it was an even show, but in the end Virtus.pro got the upper hand and secured a 16-13 to win the match. Complexity is done and dusted at IEM Cologne.

Virtus.pro - Complexity 2-1 | IEM Cologne

Virtus.pro will now have to beat Ninjas in Pyjamas to stay alive at IEM Cologne.

In the upper bracket, it started exciting between G2 and BIG. The Germans won Dust2 in convincing fashion, and then everyone thought, that we were in for a thriller of a match. But BIG just managed to win five rounds on the last two maps. Even AmenNEK, who had finished Dust2 with a horrible 3-17 K-D score ended up with a positive K-D after Mirage and Inferno. A disappointing showing for tabseN and his teammates.

G2 is ready for the playoffs and can even qualify for the semi-finals with a win against Gambit on Sunday in the Group A final. BIG will have to make a run in the lower brackets to qualify for the playoffs. Next opponent is Team Liquid.

tabseN

NIP is favorites against Virtus.pro in what seems to be an incredible watch.

The duel between Jame and device will be an incredible watch, these to have been the two best-rated players on each game, device with 1.13 and Jame 1.18.

device

Virtus.pro was surprisingly battered by OG yesterday evening. This sets them up with fellow CIS team Spririt in an elimination match in the lower brackets of group B.

The winner will face Ninjas in Pyjamas for a spot in the playoffs at IEM Summer.

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	9	22
Maps count	17	38

Jame

Player stats

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