Virtus.pro through to EL playoffs

Virtus.pro are through to the ELEAGUE playoffs after seeing off Renegades 2-0 in the last-chance qualifier (16-9 on Cobblestone and 22-20 on Mirage).

The first map of the series, Cobblestone, began with an incredible 1v3 clutch by Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward, but Renegades were unable to follow that up as Virtus.pro hit back on eco, courtesy of two crucial kills by Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas.

The Polish team took control of the game and went on an incredible run, punishing Renegades every time that a round happened to go their way. With a fragile economy, the Australians relied on the fragging power of Karlo "⁠USTILO⁠" Pivac, who won three clutches to keep the deficit to five rounds at the end of the half.

The second half started with Ricardo "⁠Rickeh⁠" Mulholland giving Renegades a major boost with three kills, but that was not enough for them to win the round as TaZ won a 1vs3 clutch. Renegades rallied back in the following round and put together a small round of rounds, bringing the scoreline to 8-11, but they were outclassed when Virtus.pro finally bought up as the Polish giants closed out the map 16-9 to take the lead in the series.

TaZ led the charge on Cobblestone 

Virtus.pro carried their momentum into the second map, Mirage, and got out to a quick 3-0 lead. The first full gun round then went Renegades' way following a 1vs2 clutch by Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage, but the Polish team quickly regained control of the game. Virtus.pro's fantastic run on the CT side continued, with the scoreline blooming to a 9-1 advantage, forcing Renegades to call a tactical pause.

The Australian team looked renewed after the short break but they only managed to get two more rounds on the board before the end of the half as all the close situations continued to go Virtus.pro's way.

Many believed that Virtus.pro would soon close this one out, but Renegades were nothing short of amazing on the CT side as they put together a fantastic run of rounds to overturn the deficit. All hoped seemed to be lost for Virtus.pro, who were down 14-15 and in a 2vs4 sitution in the final round, but Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński rescued his team with a massive clutch to take the game to overtime. 

byali went huge on Mirage 

The first overtime could not determine a winner as both teams won two rounds on the Terrorist side. In the second overtime, Virtus.pro were left in a very tricky spot after losing the first half 1-2 but then they turned it around with a perfect Terrorist display to seal a hard-fought 22-20 victory.

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ELEAGUE Season 1Best of 3 RenegadesMatchpage 0 2 15th July 2016 Virtus.pro 9Cobblestone 16 20Mirage 22

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Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas Age: 30 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1020 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.67 Aaron 'AZR' Ward Age: 23 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 151 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.71 Karlo 'USTILO' Pivac Age: 22 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 122 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.71 Justin 'jks' Savage Age: 20 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 148 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.62 Ricardo 'Rickeh' Mulholland Age: 24 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 91 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.64 Paweł 'byali' Bieliński Age: 22 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 858 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.65