ELEAGUE Major 2017’s grand finals came up live with the Poland countrymen Virtus.Pro took on the tournament favorites. With not a great 2016 year for the VP side, Astralis had the upper hand in the grand finals. Astralis won the grand slam tournament by beating Virtus.Pro twice (12-16 Nuke, 16-14 Overpass, Train 16-14).
The veto process drew out Nuke, Overpass, and Train after VP and Astralis banned D2 and Cobblestone, and picked the first two instead. Nuke, considered to be the conundrum map to dominate on subsequently. Virtus.Pro, though, came up with a strong start in order to peak up in the grand finals best of three series. With
With Byali and Snax delivering at every critical instance, Virtus.Pro edged above Astralis. The first half of Nuke ended 9-6 in favor of Virtus.Pro and from there onwards, didn’t fail to build on their momentum. Although, Astralis won a couple of more rounds in the second half, the map ended 16-12 in favor of the Polish men.
Overpass had VP on the CT side of the map. Even though VP won a couple of initial rounds, it was Astralis which leveled back the game by individual skills. Snax’s highground deagle hit helped the Polish side in eliminating all of the Astralis players even though they lost the round. The bloodshed in the nineth round was initiated by Pasha’s AWP pick on glave which gave them the advantage to work with.
Snax’s 1v2 clutch ticked VP’s score to three against Astralis’ six. NEO’s triple in the tenth round decimated Astralis’ economy as they were forced to play on pistols in the following series. The scores 4-6 for the Danes. The half ended 9-6 in favor for Astralis. Xyp9x stood ground at the A bombsite with 2 big kills to claim the second pistol round. NEO, though, had different plans as he picks off Device and Glave with his forced Scout weapon. Three kills from Pasha and TaZ in the following round deflated Astralis’ lead at 9-10. Xyp9x’s 1HP vs three of VP had them winning an almost impossible round. The scoreboard flashed 11-9 in favor of Astralis.
Byali’s triple entry into the B bombsite got VP back into the game with the only two round margin for error for Astralis. Snax’s double post-plant affirmed fourteenth round for Virtus.Pro as they moved closer to winning the Major. Snax’s 4K didn’t bring results as Kjarbye clutches versus him to even the scores at 14-14. Another triple from the young map gets Astralis to the 15. Astralis wins Overpass, all thanks to the triple kill by Xyp9x.
Virtus.Pro began on the terrorist side of Train with byali opening up the inner bombsite and pasha getting a double to win the round. Byali once again opened up things in the second round with a headshot on Duphreeh and getting his team to 2-0. Virtus.pro won the first gun round after getting three regulars on board. A couple of more cleanup rounds from Virtus.Pro set Astralis five rounds behind them. Astralis couldn’t get off the mark even after being persuaded to go on a tactical timeout.
Virtus.pro served a phenomenal feast to the 1.34mn viewers with seven consecutive rounds on board. At the end of eight rounds, Astralis picked up their first round. VP sent Astralis back in a state of derelict after they failed to secure the inner bombsite even though with enough firepower. Astralis won their second round just after losing the previous one. Kjaerbye didn’t fail to deliver once again as he picks up three frags to win another round for Astralis. TaZ’s 2K during a 1v3 clutch didn’t help VP securing another round. The first half ended 9-6 in favor of Virtus.Pro after they won the last round.
NEO’s double pick at ally completely put down Astralis’ rush. Eleven rounds on board for VP versus six of Astralis at the end of seventeenth round. TaZ’s 4K in the next round destroyed Astralis’ dreams of getting the c4 down and earning a bonus incentive to assist themselves. Kjaerbye’s 3K at the outer bombsite set VP back to consciousness as the margin between the two side only stood 5. VP crawled at thirteen rounds even though being only on pistols and SMGs. Xyp9x buys another round for Astralis as they get eight rounds on board.
Astralis got 11 rounds on board versus 13 of Virtus.Pro. Snax’s secured weapon saved VP in falling apart before Astralis. As the game progressed, Virtus.Pro held their ground at 14, two ahead of Astralis. VP failed to defend the inner bombsite once again as Astralis decimated their economy by not letting them save. The scores leveled at 14 after Astralis beat VP on their pistol round.
