Virtus.pro tied with Natus Vincere at ESL Pro League S5

In their first match of the ESL Pro League S5, our CS:GO lineup played against Natus Vincere. For Na`Vi, this was the second match, following a draw against Astralis.

First map stats (Train):

Virtus.pro started on offence. The Poles took the pistol round. Two Natus Vincere ecos later, VP.G2A went for an open plant, but made a series of mistakes while having a player advantage (3:1). In round five, GuardiaN’s three frags during an attack on a safe plant helped narrow the score gap (3:2). The Bears took the next two rounds; first, NEO and pashaBiceps made a beautiful play at a tense moment (4:2), then Snax won a 1v1 clutch (5:2). Na`Vi went for another economy round, then repelled a Polish assault on the B site (6:3). Virtus.pro attempted to slow down the pace and change the attack vector, but couldn’t break Natus Vincere’s winning streak before switching sides: 6:9.

In the second pistol round, the Born-to-Win were the stronger team (6:10). VP.G2A had two eco rounds and then lost a 2v2 during a safe plant (6:13). After losing a force buy, Virtus.pro took a tactical pause and proceeded to win two rounds in a row (8:14). Virtus.pro repelled Na`Vi’s eco, but then were unable to stop the opponents at the A site (9:15). The Bears went for an aggressive strike, winning back a map point, but couldn’t contain Natus Vincere’s next attack: 10:16.

Second map stats (Cbble):

Virtus.pro started Cbble on defence with a victory in the pistol round. After winning in two eco rounds, VP.G2A stopped an attack on the B site (4:0). The Bears took rounds five and six as TaZ and Snax won in 1v1 situations (6:0). After recovering their economy, Na`Vi successfully entered the A site, but four frags by byali continued the Polish winning streak (9:0). In round ten, s1mple fragged three VP.G2A players, opening the score for his team (9:1). By the end of the first half of the map, Natus Vincere brought the score gap down to five points: 10:5.

Now on offence, VP.G2A lost the first three rounds (10:8). The Poles slowed down the pace and went for standard positioning with infrequent aggressive strikes. Alternating between attacking the two sites, Virtus.pro took two rounds in a row (12:8). In round 21, Snax’s double kill in a 2v2 brought his team its thirteenth point on this map (13:8). The Bears’ successful attack on the A site broke down Na`Vi’s economy (14:8). Despite a force buy, the Born-to-Win brought the situation to 2v2 clutch, which they however lost (15:8). Virtus.pro’s sharp shots and swift attack on the A site helped finished the map with a 16:8 victory.

Kinguin will be Virtus.pro’s next opponent in Season 5 of the ESL Pro League. The match will be played 9 February at 19:00 CET.