Another new strong CIS team has seen the light of day with PARIVISION picking up two of Russia's most talented CS2 players. Artem "⁠ArtFr0st⁠" Kharitonov and Robert "Patsi" Isyanov were announced yesterday night as new players on the team alongside Alexey "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev.

The three players will replace Bogdan "⁠xsepower⁠" Chernikov, Andrey "⁠BELCHONOKK⁠" Yasinskiy, and Konstantin "⁠Raijin⁠" Trubarov who was part of the team from September until now. The three new signings will be seen as a big upgrade for the roster that is led by the experienced in-game leader Andrey "⁠Jerry⁠" Mekhryakov. As an AWP player, Artem "⁠ArtFr0st⁠" Kharitonov has shown great promise on Team Spirit, who opted to replace him with the Russian star sniper Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov. Robert "Patsi" Isyanov also impressed during his time on Team Spirit, but never found the groove on Team Liquid in 2023. Now the two players will get the chance to showcase their talent on PARIVISION.

The new lineup is already set to make its debut today in the open qualifiers for the PGL Copenhagen Major.

Patsi

Artfr0st

qikert

Jerry

X5G7V

HLTV have updated their ranking of the best CS:GO teams in the world, with the Outsiders now leading the ranking after winning the IEM Rio Major 2022 in Brazil.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"outsiders-win-iem-rio","isNewTab":true}]

To recap, Jame and company from Outsiders took down the Danes from Heroic in the Grand final of the event with a 2-0 result to become Major champions for the first time. This victory earned them not only the top spot in [link:{"url":"https://www.hltv.org/ranking/teams/2022/november/14","isNewTab":true,"text":"HLTV’s World Ranking"}], but also $500.000 in prize earning and a slot to the highly-anticipated BLAST Premier: World Final 2022 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Their AWPer, Jame, also received the tournament’s MVP award, his first-ever Major MVP medal.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"jame-earns-first-major-mvp-medal-iem-rio-major-2022","isNewTab":true}]

IEM Rio Major 2022 was held from October 31 to November 13 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where sixteen teams competed for a prize pool of a whopping $1.25M.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"who-were-top-performers-iem-rio-major","isNewTab":true}]

HLTV’s CS:GO World Ranking – November 14th, 2022 (Top 10)

Jame

FL1T

fame

n0rb3r7

Outsiders

Back in 2019 Jame and Qikert fell short of winning a Major as Astralis took down Avangar at Berlin Major 2019. But now, the four Russians F1IT, Jame, Fame, n0rb3rt, and the Kazakhstan player Qikert are joining the mighty list of Major winners. Outsiders have never been one of the big favorites before a tournament, this time was no different. However, Outsiders made history by taking down the Danes from Heroic in the Grand final of the IEM Rio Major to secure the Major title.

ESL One: Cologne 2014 | Ninjas in Pyjamas

ESL One: Katowice 2015 & ESL One: Cologne 2015 | fnatic

DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 | Team EnvyUs

MLG Columbus 2016 & ESL One: Cologne 2016 | Luminosity / SK Gaming

FaceIt Major: London 2018, IEM Katowice 2019, StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 | Astralis

Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022 | Outsiders

Aleksei "Qikert" Golubev is ready for the playoffs at IEM Rio with his team Outsiders after a clear 2-0 win against MOUZ. We spoke with the Kazakh after the win, where he spoke about the excellent chemistry on the team that reminds him of the 2019 AVANGAR team that made it all the way to the Grand Final at the Berlin Major.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"starladder-berlin-major-2019-astralis-make-history-becoming-back-to-back-to-back-major-champions","isNewTab":true}]

You can see the postmatch interview with Qikert here.

With FaZe's early exit and NAVI still not qualified for the playoffs, the speculations about who will lift the trophy in Rio has begun. 

You can bet on IEM Rio via our betting partners down below.

The duo of Aleksei "Qikert" Golubev and Dzhami "Jame" Ali has been together since August 2017 on three different teams with the latter taking much of the spotlight. On AVANGAR the CIS duo reached the Grand Final of the Berlin Major in 2019 as the provisional highlight of their careers. 

On Virtus.pro/Outsiders Qikert and Jame have continued to work together with players such as Sanjar "SANJI" Kuliev, Timur "buster" Tulepov, Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis and Däuren "AdreN" Qystaubaev, who has all enjoyed successful stints on the roster, that again changed five months ago with the addition of David "n0rb3r7" Daniyelyan and Pyotr "fame" Bolyshev to the team. A change that has elevated Aleksei "Qikert" Golubev into a position, where the 23-year-old Kazakh is now one of the most experienced players on the roster.

- I don't want to compare the two different squads. They are both special. Everyone is special for me because I got all this experience from playing with SANJI, AdreN, buster, and YEKINDAR. Now I am playing with young guys, and I am giving them experience, so that feels great.

You can see the full interview with Qikert here.

It was a CIS clash when forZe and Outsiders went head-to-head for a Legends Stage spot. forZe missed out on their opportunity to secure a spot yesterday when they faltered against Vitality, but now have another chance versus "Jame"s troops who came from the 1-1 pool.

forZe had a formidable start to the Bo3. On Dust2, Outsiders' pick, "Jerry" and co. started with 11 rounds in a row on the CT side. This was an excellent start on a map where Outsiders are considered one of the best in the world. After a devastating 12-3 half, the "Jame"-led squad quickly got after it. Out of the break, they won eight straight and were suddenly back in contention. Unfortunately for them, they could not drive it all the way home, which gave forZe a 1-0 lead in the series.

Coming into the second map of Mirage, it looked like forZe might have another phenomenal start, but the Outsiders were able to shut it down early and give themselves a one-round advantage at the end of their CT side.

The Outsiders turned up the heat after the break and started rolling over the opposition. forZe only managed three rounds on the CT side as a deadly "Qikert" was all over them from start to finish.

The final map of Inferno saw a lot of ties and lead changes at the beginning of the map. The two teams were excitingly close, and neither was able to establish an economical lead, which led to a very marginal halftime lead of 8-7 for forZe.

The second half was far from as close as the first. "YEKINDAR" and the Outsiders squashed forZe six rounds in a row and suddenly had a substantial lead. forZe made a small dent in the Outsiders' lead but ultimately could not stand up to the giants of Outsiders.

Outsiders win the series 2-1 and capitalize on their first chance to go through to the Legends Stage. forZe on the other hand wasted their second chance in a row and will have to try for a third and last time tomorrow.

[twitchClip:pgl/clip/ProductiveSuaveStrawberryPJSugar-bBA_voiQMIfdStgJ]

forZe - Outsiders 1-2 | PGL Major Antwerp Challengers Stage

16-12 (Dust2) | {cflag:RU} KENSI - 1.40 Rating / 23-13 K-D / 90.3 ADR

10-16 (Mirage) | {cflag:KZ} Qikert - 1.51 Rating / 24-14 K-D / 100.3 ADR

11-16 (Inferno) | {cflag:LV} YEKINDAR - 1.54 Rating / 20-16 K-D / 116.4 ADR

MVP: {cflag:LV} Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis - 1.33 Rating / 63-50 K-D / 92.5 ADR

KENSI

YEKINDAR

forZe

Last year Virtus.pro was one of the big revalations with their deep-run at IEM Katowice. And perhaps the CIS team could be on their way to repeat that feat.

At ESL Challenger they got the best possible warm up with a tournament win after a very one-sided Grand Final.

FURIA was on the other side of the server, but they were quickly reduced to extras in the match. It all started on Inferno, where FURIA had huge issues breaking through the defense of Virtus.pro. Up 11-4 at the break, it did not take VP long to find the remaining five rounds to win FURIA's map pick.

On Overpass FURIA once again had to concede 11 rounds during the first half with Aleksei 'Qikert' Golubev being on fire for Virtus.pro! In the second half both YEKINDAR and Jame got activated, and then it was game over for FURIA, who never really had a chance in the match.

Virtus.pro takes home $50,000 in first prize, while FURIA has to settle with $20,000. Both team is ready for the IEM Katowice main event on Thursday.

Virtus.pro – Complexity (2-0) | ESL Challenger February 2022

16-8 (Inferno) | {cflag:LV} YEKINDAR – 1.92 Rating / 29-12 K-D / 111.4 ADR

Qikert – 1.55 Rating / 22-10 K-D / 93.1 ADR

MVP: {cflag:LV} Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis - 1.51 Rating / 39-28 K-D / 103.7 ADR

Virtus.pro

FURIA

- 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.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"yekindar-can-achieve-lot-more-with-current-lineup","isNewTab":true}]

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.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/YEKINDAR_Virtus.pro_1_h6yhjg","originalWidth":1920,"originalHeight":1080,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

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.  

The quickest and most efficient way to kill an enemy in Counter-Strike is to hit them in the head with either your pistol, rifle or sniper rifle. Despite it being the quickest way to get a kill, it’s also the hardest way. For some players, it can be very tough to hit a headshot.

The CS:GO world also contains a list of players whose natural-born headshot machines, where tapping heads are their strongest capability on the server. We have found the very best headshot players this year by looking at several headshot statistics among top 20 teams.

1. {cflag:UA} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/b1tgod","isNewTab":true,"text":"Valeriy 'B1T' Vakhovskiy"}] (NAVI) | 1459 / 67.0%

2. {cflag:CA} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/twistzz","isNewTab":true,"text":"Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken"}] (FaZe) | 1457 / 64.0%  

3. {cflag:FR} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/jackz","isNewTab":true,"text":"Audric 'JaCkz' Jug"}] (G2) | 1380 / 63.9%

4. {cflag:UZ} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/sanji","isNewTab":true,"text":"Sanjar 'SANJI' Kuliev"}] (Virtus.pro) | 1286 / 62.1%

5. {cflag:LV} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/yekindar","isNewTab":true,"text":"Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis"}] (Virtus.pro) 1894 / 61.5%

6. {cflag:NO} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/rain","isNewTab":true,"text":"Håvard 'rain' Nygaard"}] (FaZe) | 1219 / 59.5%

7. {cflag:DE} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/k1to","isNewTab":true,"text":"Nils 'k1to' Gruhne"}] (BIG) | 1424 / 57.7%

8. {cflag:KZ} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/qikert","isNewTab":true,"text":"Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev"}] (Virtus.pro) | 1515 / 57.4%

9. {cflag:DK} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/teses","isNewTab":true,"text":"René 'TeSeS' Madsen"}] (Heroic) | 1267 / 56.5%

10. {cflag:DE} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/tabsen","isNewTab":true,"text":"Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz"}] (BIG) | 1524 / 55.1%

THE BEST PRO CS:GO ONE TAPS OF 2021! (INSANE AIM)

B1tGOD

Twistzz

tabseN

k1to

rain

SANJI

JaCkz

TeSeS

Team Vitality arrived at PGL Stockholm with a reasonable hope of making a deep run at the tournament. The third-place at IEM Fall Europe had sparked some confidence in the roster, where names like shox and ZywOo obviously infuse respect. But in their opening round of the Legends Stage at PGL Stockholm, the Frenchmen were one step behind Virtus.pro throughout the match on Inferno.

With Jame and buster in top form, Virtus.pro proved to be unstoppable. In the first half, it was a good CT-side, that gave the CIS team a 9-6 lead, but it was on their T-side, that they really popped off. Vitality won the pistol round, but could not convert the following round, which Virtus.pro took maximum advantage of by winning the next six rounds to give them eight match points. But then Vitality suddenly found momentum. With their backs against the wall, the former number 1 team in the world made an incredible comeback to 14-15 before falling short in the last round, where Virtus.pro finally sealed the deal.

For Team Vitality this was an early wake-up call, where the Frenchmen must be worried, that their Major debutant Jayson "Kyojin" Nguyen Van had such a difficult game only scoring a 0.73 rating during the match. Both teams will be back in action later today.

Virtus.pro – Team Vitality 1-0 | PGL Major Stockholm Legends Stage

16-14 (Inferno) {cflag:KZ} qikert – 1.24 Rating / 20-16 K-D / 84.1 ADR

Team Vitality

The third legend spot from the Challenger stage belongs to Virtus.pro. The CIS roster won their third match in the opening stage of the Major to qualify for the next stage with a narrow 2-1 against Team Spirit.

The action started on Inferno with a close first half, but from there on everything fell apart for Team Spirit. It started with a stupid mistake by Victor “sdy” Orudzhev who accidentally stabbed his own in-game leader  Leonid "chopper" Vishnyakov in the back, leaving his teammate with little health in the pistol round in the second half. Virtus.pro won the pistol round and the next seven rounds to win the map.

[twitchVideo:pgl/clip/CarelessIncredulousJuiceTwitchRaid-ceUyYSTJMhiDyeiE]

Team Spirit had chosen Ancient as map number two. But quickly they had to realize, that Virtus.pro came well prepared. Nothing seemed to work for Team Spirit, who could see Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev go 12-0 in K-D before finally winning a round at 0-7 down. 

Spirit was trailing for the rest of the first half trying to catch up. On their CT-side the Russian roster managed to make the game much more even, and through some very solid defensive plays, they destroyed Virtus.pro. Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhev went 20-5 in the second half alone!

Overpass was set as the decider. Here the two teams started by trading rounds until the halftime break. In the second half, it became evident, that it was Spirit, who had found themselves a momentum. In-game Dzhami 'Jame' Ali had a rough time on the map, where he was outgunned by Abdul 'degster' Gasanov, who finally after two slow maps had started to heat up. Despite multiple rounds of opening kills going in favor of Virtus.pro, they could not convert them to round wins and went behind 14-8. Two-round wins separated Team Spirit from a ticket to the Legends stage, but then they froze. Virtus.pro managed to tie the game up at 15-15 and forced the match to overtime. 

Here Virtus.pro was finally able to get the better of Spirit, who seemed to have lost their momentum again. VP won the match 19-15 and is through to the Legend stage at PGL Stockholm. Team Spirit will have to win tomorrow against another 2-2 team to make it to the next stage.

Team Spirit - Virtus.pro 1-2 | PGL Stockholm Major Challengers Stage

7-16 (Inferno) | {cflag:LV} YEKINDAR – 1.36 Rating / 19-13 K-D / 86.1 ADR

16-12 (Ancient) | {cflag:UA} sdy – 1.36 Rating / 21-14 K-D / 92.1 ADR

15-19 (Overpass) | {cflag:KZ} buster – 1.40 Rating / 31-20 K-D / 99.4 ADR

MVP: {cflag:KZ} Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev – 1.31 Rating / 69-50 K-D / 88.0 ADR

somedieyoung

chopper

Spirit

After a dramatic opening day at BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, it's time for another thrilling day of Counter-Strike. In the first matchup today, the strong Russians from Virtus.pro are taking on Movistar Riders in a tough elimination battle, where only the victor will proceed. 

Virtus.pro has as well as Movistar Riders qualified for the upcoming PGL Major in Stockholm, so both sides can focus entirely on winning this $162.500 tournament. The match will go live at 15:30 (CEST), and you can see it right here on Pley.gg. 

Movistar Riders

It's beginning to become a bit critical for a bunch of teams at IEM Fall CIS. The last Regional Major Ranking event before the Major later this month is now two days in, and the important event has featured several surprise victories and stunning individual performances. 

Down below you'll find the standings but also a video compilation of the best moments and highlights from Day 2 at IEM Fall CIS. 

Gambit has just lost their first match at the ongoing IEM Fall CIS. That became a reality today when Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov and company suffered a defeat against Virtus.pro. The two other matches which began at 14.30, ended with victories for forZe and INDE IRAE.

In the matchup against Virtus.pro, the youngsters from Gambit struggled massively on Mirage, despite being one of their strongest maps in 2021. On the other hand, Virtus.pro hit the ground running in the Bo1 battle, where the Russian bears pulled up a strong 9-6 half-time lead, owing to a solid CT-side.

In the second half Gambit came back strong, to take it the full 30 rounds and force VP into overtime. Virtus.pro still managed to secure the victory though in double overtime. The loss means that Gambit will drop down in the rankings in Group B and Virtus.pro are still rock solid in the number one spot.

20-22 (Mirage) | {cflag:KZ} Qikert - 1.22 Rating / 27-26 K-D / 82.1 ADR 

16-13 (Vertigo) | {cflag:RU} almazer – 1.65 Rating / 31-18 K-D / 111.7 ADR

16-14 (Mirage) | {cflag:RU} X5G7V – 1.28 Rating / 23-16 K-D / 85.7 ADR

Gambit Esports

The #5 team in the world in Virtus.pro had their backs to the wall before today’s matchup against Sinners at ESL Pro League Season 14, owing to their two heavy defeats in the first two rounds. Despite the pressure, Virtus.pro managed to turn the tide and secure their first win in Group B, as they steamrolled over Sinners 2-0.

Virtus.pro was once again led by the Latvian star Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis, who presented a masterpiece on the first map on Vertigo, where he ended the map with a stellar 1.73 Rating. The forceful rifler just couldn’t be stopped by Tomáš "oskar" Šťastný and the rest of Sinners.

The Russian dominance by VP continued on Inferno, and Dzami “Jame” Ali and his troops were quickly able to put up a persuasive 11-4 lead before the switch. And despite a valiant effort from SinnerS, the Czech team was up against a much more homogeneous Virtus.pro roster, where everyone chipped in. It ended with a 16-11 win for Virtus.pro, who perhaps could be back in contention for a spot in the playoffs.

Virtus.pro – SinnerS (2-0) | ESL Pro League Season 14

16-9 (Vertigo) | {cflag:LV} YEKINDAR – 1.73 Rating / 27-12 K-D / 108.0 ADR

16-11 (Inferno) | {cflag:KZ} Qikert - 1.34 Rating / 23-16 K-D / 96.9 ADR

MVP: {cflag:LV} Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis - 1.42 rating / 47-30 K-D / 96.2 ADR

SinnerS

Virtus.pro spent a long time in the shadows of the former legendary Polish roster who took the CS:GO world by storm under the same name. Now they have finally asserted themselves at the top of the professional Counter-Strike scene where they belong once again. Lead by Alexey "Qikert" Golubev the CIS roster has managed to take down even the strongest of oppositions. 

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Copyright_-_Adela-Sznajder_-qikert_fkbvbw","originalWidth":3840,"originalHeight":2160,"cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Adela Sznajder ESL","alt":"CS:GO, Counter-Strike"}]

But the recent success is not only down to the smarts of "Qikert" and his ability to tactically outsmart his opponents. One of the major factors in the roster's success has been the Young Gun of Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis. At the young age of 21-years-old, he is, undoubtedly, one of the game's biggest talents and has made entry-fragging look easy. 

Take a look at some of the best moments from Virtus.pro and "YEKINDAR" down below: 

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.

buster

compLexity Gaming

G2 Esports

It is always a pleasure to see when Pro's take it to another level.

In this video, we get the best of the smartest plays of 2021, where clever use of utility, fake reloads and ninja defuses are at the center.

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) | {cflag:RU} mir – 1.26 Rating / 22-21 K-D / 95.4 ADR

9-16 (Inferno) |{cflag:KZ} Qikert – 1.18 Rating / 16-16 K-D / 81.1 ADR

17-19 (Ancient) |{cflag:RU} mir – 1.37 Rating / 35-25 K-D / 88.7 ADR

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

Dzami “Jame” Ali and the rest of Virtus.pro got their retaliation at the RMR CIS qualifier, as VP managed to defeat the Ukrainian underdogs from Akuma. The win means that they will set up a profiled Grand Final against the world #1 in Gambit.

In the consolidation final, we saw a dominant VP-side who time after time caught Akuma off guard, especially on Akuma’s map pick on Mirage. A map, where VP’s Timur “buster” Tolepov took over the server, presenting a stellar 1.58 Rating including a 11-3 K-D on the CT-side.

The Russian Bears continued their great form on Overpass, and it looked like it was only a matter of time before Akuma were down and dusted. With a confident 16-9 victory, VP seals a vital Grand Final spot where they will take on Gambit today at 19:00 (CET).

Virtus.pro – Akuma (2-0) | EPIC League CIS 2021

16-8 (Mirage) | {cflag:KZ}  buster – 1.58 Rating / 23-12 K-D / 100.2 ADR

16-9 (Overpass) | {cflag:KZ} Qikert – 1.47 Rating / 22-11 K-D / 90.0 ADR

{cflag:LV} Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis - 1.38 Rating / 43-35 K-D / 103.2 ADR

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	0	0
Maps count	0	0

qikert

Player stats

Articles mentioning qikert

Patsi and ArtFr0st confirmed on new CIS team

Outsiders secure #1 ranking after Major success

Jame and Qikert got their revenge at IEM Rio Major 2022

Qikert: The chemistry on the team reminds me of AVANGAR 2019

Qikert on young teammates: Now I am giving out experience

Outsiders Through To Legends Stage

Virtus.pro wins ESL Challenger 48 after dominant win in Grand Final

YEKINDAR: We could be the best team in 2022

The Headshot Kings of 2021

Virtus.pro takes down Vitality in opening round

Virtus.pro through to Legends stage after three map thriller

Live: Virtus.pro vs Movistar Riders

Video: Best of Day 2 - IEM Fall CIS

Gambit fall short against VP at IEM Fall CIS

Virtus.pro grab their first win at ESL Pro League S14

Best of Yekindar: The Latvian Young Gun

G2 sends BIG to lower brackets - Complexity eliminated by Virtus.pro

Video: The smartest Pro plays of 2021

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

Virtus.pro advance to EPIC League CIS Grand Final, after beating Ukrainian underdogs

Follow Pley