The tactics of Virtus.pro on Cbble you want to repeat

In the first instalment of our Play Like Virtus.Pro series, we’ll be looking at a round from the Polish five’s recent showing at ESL One Cologne 2017. VP faced off against Immortals in the first round of the group stage, and used a very interesting tactic.

In Round 22, Virtus.pro executed a new Cobblestone set piece, which surprised both the Brazilians and the commentators. The Poles made a wall of smoke at the B site and snuck up behind the opponent’s back.

For this round, Virtus.pro bought 5 smoke grenades, 5 Molotovs, and some flashbangs, all of which were of critical tactical importance

At the start of the round, one of the players (pashaBiceps in our case) heads for B main.

Jarosław tosses a smoke into the archway, faking a quick entrance.

The other four players get in position to throw grenades from the spawn. Let’s look at each smoke in turn and the position it’s thrown from.

The smoke at the B doors

Virtus.pro’s tactic has NEO throw this smoke. Filip stands right next to the rock and aims for a pixel in the lower left edge of the flag on the wall. The smoke is tossed in mid-jump.

 The skyfall smoke

Snax is tasked with throwing this smoke in VP. The smoke cuts off the exit from skyfall to B. Janusz uses a shadow to position himself, then moves his crosshair to the edge of the ledge. The smoke is tossed in mid-jump.

Zoning smoke #1

The wall of smoke in the middle of the B site comes from twin grenades from TaZ and byali. Wiktor Wojtas’s one is nearer to the wall.

Zoning smoke #2

To throw the other smoke that serves to split the B site in half, Paweł stands directly next to the right-hand-side wall of the stairs leading from the spawn, then aims for a pixel near the ledge. The smoke is tossed in mid-jump.

Once all the smokes have been thrown, three players join pashaBiceps and attack the B site after using Molotovs to isolate the immediate area. Jarosław himself throws the first incendiary.

pashaBiceps’s position for the Molotov, tossed while standing

Three players circle around the wall of smoke and enter the B site from the back; pashaBiceps operates from B main, while Snax shifts to mid and provides containment via the A site.

Author: Anton Kozlov