Virtus.pro win ESEA S18 Global Finals

Virtus.pro overcame fnatic in the first best-of-three series 2-1 (16-14 de_season, 9-16 de_inferno, 16-13 de_cache) to win ESEA Invite Season 18 Global Finals and $70,000.

Starting off on de_season, Virtus.pro kicked things off with a nearly flawless Terrorist side, as they switched sides at 12-3. fnatic survived the first five rounds and closed the deficit to four only, but soon found themselves down 15-10.

Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer then picked up an amazing one-on-four to save fnatic from going down 0-1 in the first best-of-three, and helped them get to 13-15 with a triple in a two-on-three. One eco from Virtus.pro later, the Swedes finally gave in due to a crossfire from Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas and Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński for a 16-14 win.

The second map of the first series, de_inferno, went much better for fnatic in the beginning - at least after the map restart due to a caster accidentally dropping a kit for Virtus.pro, helping them win the first round.

With Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell's quad-kill and a one-on-two in the pistol, fnatic went up 3-0 before Virtus.pro climbed back with four rounds in a row in the bag. The Swedes' aggression was too much to handle though, as Markus "⁠pronax⁠" Wallsten's squad got to play as Counter-Terrorists with a good three-round lead at 9-6.

Virtus.pro win their second title of the year

Despite losing the second pistol, a response in the following round opened doors wide open for them, as they only let three rounds slip away also partly thanks to Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson's quad-kill at 12-9, helping fnatic tie the first series at 1-1.

Map three was set to be de_cache, and it was Virtus.pro taking a quick 7-1 lead as Counter-Terrorists this time around. Slowly but surely, fnatic started climbing back to have a chance on the other side, as they exchanged the next four rounds evenly before taking all three remaining for 6-9.

The second pistol round evened things out at 9-9 for fnatic, and a couple of gunrounds extended their run to six before Virtus.pro took a stand. With three rounds in a row for TaZ and company, the score was even yet again at 12-12.

Problems with money didn't help things for the Swedish side, as another two gunrounds in the bag for Virtus.pro put them on a very desperate buy, which was the last nail in fnatic's coffin.

ESEA Invite Season 18 Global FinalsBest of 6 Virtus.proMatchpage 2 1 19th April 2015 fnatic 16Season 14 9Inferno 16 16Cache 13

ESEA Invite Season 18 Global Finals standings:

1. Virtus.pro - $70,000
2. fnatic - $25,000
3. Titan - $15,000
4. mousesports - $10,000
5-6. CLG - $7,000
5-6. Nihilum - $7,000
7-8. Cloud9 - $5,000
7-8. Luminosity - $5,000 

Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas Age: 28 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 637 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.66 Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer Age: 23 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 356 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.63 Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Age: 20 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 335 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.62 Markus 'pronax' Wallsten Age: 23 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 473 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.65 Jesper 'JW' Wecksell Age: 20 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 502 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.67 Paweł 'byali' Bieliński Age: 20 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 471 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.64