With a victory in the semifinal match on Saturday, Virtus.pro secured their passage to the grand finals of the IEM Katowice Championship. Before that, they knocked Astralis out of the competition in a tight three-card battle in the quarterfinals, and then they only needed two cards to send Liquid home. In both matches the coordinated actions of Jame «Jame» Ali and Mareks «YEKINDAR» Galinksis played a prominent role.
On the Dust2 map Liquid were able to be active in the beginning, winning the pistol rounds, but then lost more and more. In the end, the map remained for the CIS team with a score of 16 : 9. The second map was Mirage, and on it the American team fought back more intensely, but after the change of sides the advantage finally went to Virtus.pro. As a result, the map draw ended with the score 16 : 12 in their favor.
On Sunday, Virtus.pro expect to perform just as well in the grand finals. There they will face another team from the CIS – Gambit made it to the final stage, knocking out Natus Vincere and Spirit from the tournament. For Virtus.pro, the biggest success recently was winning Flashpoint 2, while Gambit won cs_summit 7 in January. Both teams now have a chance to win one of the most important titles of 2021.