Virtus.pro vs. Keyd Stars: the intercontinental clash

While Virtus.pro plowed through the group stage once again cheered on by the entire audience at ESL One, Keyd Stars had a rocky start in a tough group only to become stronger and stronger with every match they played. Now the Brazilians are up against the reigning champions at Katowice, being in the exact position to “provide awesome moments”, as FalleN wished in our interview. Was it their time to beat not only one of the big teams but also upset the Polish crowd?

MAP ONE: Mirage
Starting as T, Keyd Stars were able to overrun the B spot and take the lead against the fan favorite Virtus.pro. However, pushed by the crowd celebrating every single kill the reigning champion here at Katowice was able to turn the eco into their favor, to start a streak from here picking up round after round. At a 5-1 scoreline, Keyd managed once again managed to take the B spot and securing their second round. Striking back right there, VP were still being challenged but extended their lead again and took over the game completely before FalleN pulled a time out at the score of 9-2. Still, Virtus.pro were able to take two more rounds before the tactical adjustments of Keyd made them win their third round. The final round of the first half saw Keyd trying to find a hole in VPs defence again, but were taken down while doing so, bringing the score to a 12-3 scoreline for strong playing Virtus.pro.

After this strong CT play, Virtus.pro were able to plant the bomb in their T pistol but were stopped after this, for Keyd to have a chance to catch up on them. A strong eco round however, had the crowd cheering for their champions once again. From here on Virtus.pro were going Virtus.plow once again, leaving no further chances to Keyd Stars and ending the first map at 16-4 scoreline.

MAP TWO: Overpass
Going into the second map after this strong performance, Virtus.pro had to handle very agressively playing Keyd Stars. Forth and back the rounds went, after TaZ and his team were able to pick up the pistol round starting as T.  3-3 was the score, before Keyd were able to take some of the speed out of Virtus.pro and taking the lead. Only one more round was going to the Polish side, as Keyd extended their lead more and more. A strong defence left Virtus.pro without the chance to score any more round as the Brazilians go into the second half with a 11-4 lead.

The Brazilians rushed into the second half, knowing that the pistol round might be a crucial one. With all the three first rounds scored, Keyd were at a 14-4 lead and only steps away from taking the big favorite to Nuke, the third map. But equipped at last, Virtus.pro was able to take the first CT round and breaking the streak of Keyd. The following rounds kept being tough for both teams, but Virtus.pro were able to catch up in score. Especially Snax was massively pushing his team with a lot of crucial frags as they closed on Keyd Stars still being two rounds away from taking the map. At a 14-12 scoreline, Keyd once again took a timeout to set the tactic for the remaining rounds. But Virtus.pro kept their run alive bringing the game to an all equal 14-14. A fast round ended in a 1on2 clutch for boltz, able to defend the bomb and take both players down, bringing the game to one round deciding about win for Keyd or an overtime, but Virtus.pro were able to bring the game to overtime.

Kicking off the overtime was Virtus.pro as CT carried by the chanting crowd to take the first round. One more round went to their side, before Keyd were able to score the final 3rd round before the switch. At 17-16 for Virtus.pro, the Polish side was taken down one by one by Keyd Stars, were able to bring the game back to all equal score again. Keyd brought the game to another match point, before securing the match at a 19-17 scoreline, taking the match to Nuke to decide who will advance to the semis.

MAP THREE: Nuke
Starting in the favored CT position were able to take the pistol round as Keyd Stars rushed into the A spot. The following two rounds went to Virtus.pro as well, before Keyd were able again to buy up. But with this round being ended early on by the Polish side, another one went their way again. Even though getting close to taking rounds, Keyd were not able to really break the defence of VP before taking a timeout at 9-0. Even though playing a well round following up, Pasha and his mates did not let go off the streak they were running. It was 12-0 before Keyd were to score their first round before Virtus.pro took back the upper hand and bringing the game to a 14-1 scoreline to go into the second half.

After scoring the T pistol round Virtus.pro was recieving standing ovations, pushing them to close the game right in the next round. After a slow setup, Virtus.pro took the lower B spot and secured the all important 16th round, destroying Keyd Stars by 16-1 and 2-1 overall in this quarterfinal. Advancing to the semifinal against Fnatic tomorrow, the reigning champion will be facing a strong challenge on their way to defend this title. Keyd Stars showed a strong tournament overall, getting better and better in every match and showing us today that they are able to take on the top teams of Europe. We can be looking forward to see what they will be able to show us coming into the next CS:GO major as one of the Legend teams.

Results and more can be found on the ESL One website, and all streams in all available languages on our Twitch.tv hub. Watch the VODs so far on our YouTube account and follow constant updates by ESL Counter-Strike on Twitter and Facebook!

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