Virtus.pro puts fnatic away in two at CS Summit 7 grand finals

CS Summit 7’s grand final matchup between Virtus.pro and fnatic was close from start to finish, but it was Virtus.pro who walked away with the grand finals win 2-0.

The finals started off on Virtus.pro’s Inferno pick, but it wasn’t until the map’s final rounds that the roster managed to lock down the map win. The first half went back and forth as Virtus.pro took four rounds on the attacking side as fnatic struggled to predict VP’s attacks.

Even though fnatic finally managed to lock Virtus.pro down in round five to get on the board, a one-versus-three post-plant clutch from VP’s star AWPer Dzhami “Jame” Ali would eventually prove to be the difference-maker on Inferno. 

The second half on the classic map mirrored the first, except that it was fnatic taking the early lead before their opponents were able to form a successful defense. fnatic answered back with quick three rounds before VP regained control to put themselves in the lead 15-13. Despite a one-versus-two post-plant from fnatic’s Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin that brought the team within one round of overtime, VP fended off fnatic’s B play to close the map 16-14.

VP clean up on Vertigo to win CS Summit 7

Vertigo played out much like Inferno after Virtus.pro took an early lead in the pistol round. fnatic took four rounds after the ensuing force buy win, but would fall behind as the half went on as it gave up two head-scratching smoke defuses thanks to poor positioning. Fnatic’s attacking side seemed to miss Robin “flusha” Rönnquist’s aggressive posture, something that might have prevented those two defuses from coming through. They proved to be insrumental in VP’s win on the map, giving the international team therounds they needed before switching sides up 8-7.

In a game that was focused on teamplay rather than individual performances, Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis’ A site play that kicked off the second half was the lone exception. YEKINDAR took out three fnatic players in seconds on A site and put Virtus.pro in position to with with a 9-7 lead.

The second half would go quicker than the first. VP won several in a row off the back of their own A site attacks. Unlike fnatic’s unsuccessful attempts, VP covered both short and ramp in thier post-plants, avoiding the issues that fnatic ran into on its T side attacks. The match’s turning point came in round 20 as fnatic lost a two-versus-two to Timur “buster” Tulepov’s snappy aim.

That loss put fnatic on an eco and allowed VP a 14-8 lead on fnatic’s map pick. After VP thwarted a desperate Swedish ramp push in the 23rd round, fnatic failed to defend the B site from at Virtus.pro sqaud that was everywhere at once. That blunder cost fnatic the round and the map, with CS Summit 7 ending 16-7  as Virtus.pro took home the trophy.

In a statistic that shows just how the team has evolved in the past year, Virtus.pro didn’t drop a single map over the course of CS Summit. The performance put it in a great position as CSGO’s spring season begins, but the team doesn’t sound satisfied with just one tropy. In a post-match interview, YEKINDAR revealed that just one wasn’t enough for a VP team that is just starting to heat up.

“We want to be better, we want to be in bigger tournaments. We just want to win,” YEKINDAR said.

Fans can catch both teams in the server for the 2021 IEM Katowice play-ins scheduled to start on February 16.