Virtus.pro to grand final over Titan

Virtus.pro have advanced to the grand final after out-playing Titan 2-1 with map scores of 11:16 on de_nuke, 16:13 on de_cache and 16:4 on de_inferno.

With only European teams remaining in play at the ESEA Season 18 Global Finals, the upper bracket final saw two red-hot teams facing off: the French-Belgian-Swiss mix of Titan and the Poles of Virtus.pro.

With the last match of the day drawing into the Dallasonian dusk and beyond, it was de_nuke that would be the battleground for the first map of contention. Interestingly, this choice may be one of the last times that nuke is seen as a map of play for a long while.

kuben and VP guarantee themselves a grand final placing

Belying the common superstition that de_nuke is a horrendously CT-sided map, Kévin "⁠Ex6TenZ⁠" Droolans worked his men like a master puppeteer on Titan's T-half, giving them the advantage at the half over VP (8:7), despite the Poles' reputation for stellar CT play on de_nuke.

Virtus.pro countered with a flawless T pistol and looked like they were on their way toward gaining some breathing space by advancing to a 10:8 advantage, and with Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski in hard-fragging mode.

Titan bid nuke adieu with textbook T and CT play 

However, with Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire and Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub beginning to garner frags in piecemeal fashion, Titan made VP look more and more like a plough stuck in the mud, and Titan shut down the map with solid defense at a score of 16:11.

de_cache began with all indications of a Titan shutdown with Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy and team winning their T pistol and the next few rounds.

Virtus.pro did finally get ahold of their CT-sided muse eventually, and Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński in particular helped heap rounds up for the Poles.

The fifteenth round saw helter-skelter play from both teams at mid with Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas delivering with his characteristic Five-Seven play to give VP the advantage with a 9:6 half.

apEX let loose an artillery barrage against VP on Titan's CT half of de_cache

Despite the twenty-two year old apEX delivering insane play with the USP on the second pistol round, Virtus.pro started to grab a foothold and gain Terrorist rounds.

On the 24th round, a miniature comeback was halted by a one-versus-two from byali, which made a visibly frustrated kennyS force off his headphones on the live camera.

With such suggestions of possible tilt, next round the resurgent Mathieu "⁠Maniac⁠" Quiquerez got three pistol kills to give Titan the win and reverse momentum yet again, with the score 13:12 for Virtus.pro.

Virtus.pro kept composure however and their combination of aggressive site takes and loose style ended the map in their favour, 16:13. This win marked the first time a match was going to map three at these ESEA finals.

byali was particularly impressive on cache

With the third map being de_inferno, it was to be expected that Titan in-game leader Ex6TenZ would have the anti-strat book ready for Virtus.pro.

Unfortunately, Lady History (and drawn-out series) has a way of being unkind to Titan, and Virtus.pro took off with overbearing Terrorist play, pummeling a confused-looking Titan into the ground.

Despite well-intended save rounds meant to restart Titan's economy, VP continued exploding onto both sites with not much answer from the French-majority team; the half ended 11:4 for Virtus.pro.

A mid-rush worked no magic for the teetering Titan, and they were left saying sayonara as final rounds bled away.

Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski added final insult to injury with a knife on Ex6TenZ in the same round, bringing a somewhat anti-climactic third map to a close 16:4.

ESEA Invite Season 18 Global FinalsBest of 3 TitanMatchpage 1 2 19th April 2015 Virtus.pro 16Nuke 11 13Cache 16 4Inferno 16

Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas Age: 28 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 637 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.66 Cédric 'RpK' Guipouy Age: 25 Team: Titan Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 99 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66 Filip 'NEO' Kubski Age: 27 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 637 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 Mathieu 'Maniac' Quiquerez Age: 24 Team: Titan Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 329 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.65 Paweł 'byali' Bieliński Age: 20 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 471 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.64 Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Age: 22 Team: Titan Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 419 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.71 Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski Age: 27 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 588 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.68 Kévin 'Ex6TenZ' Droolans Age: 24 Team: Titan Rating 1.0: 0.92 Maps played: 511 KPR: 0.60 DPR: 0.62 Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub Age: 19 Team: Titan Rating 1.0: 1.21 Maps played: 490 KPR: 0.82 DPR: 0.62