Virtus.pro have won the first season of ELEAGUE following a two-map grand final with fnatic (Cobblestone 16-10, Mirage 16-8), grabbing a $390,000 cheque along with the trophy.
ELEAGUE’s grand final kicked off with fnatic starting on the Terrorist side on Cobblestone, taking the pistol round for themselves following great rotation and individual play fromFreddy “KRIMZ” Johansson, who got three kills in a 2v4 scenario.
Robin “flusha” Rönnquist was putting in the most work as the Swedes quickly moved up to 9-2, as after both rounds goingVirtus.pro’s way their economy got reset. They stabilized in the end however, grabbing all four remaining rounds in the half for 9-6.
A well thought-out execute on A gave VP the second pistol round and both following rounds, and a smart triple-nade on Jesper “JW” Wecksell in dropzone saw the Poles getting up to a 11-9 lead.
Filip “NEO” Kubski had already been doing well at that point, but his double entries in two separate rounds, one of which also included a successful fake, put his team up on 14-10, breaking their opponents’ economy completely. fnatic decided to go for two desperate forcebuys afterwards but couldn’t avoid a loss on their own map pick.
Out with the new, in with the old – NEO shined on Cobblestone
The game switched to Mirage and fnatic again got off to a 3-0 start after retaking the A bombsite in the pistol round as Counter-Terrorists. Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski then put up six clutch kills across two rounds to give Virtus.pro two rounds before Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer showed up with a double in a 2v2 retake.
While being on a quasi-buy, Virtus.pro came up with a brilliant double-fake to win the round and even the map out at 4-4. They barely escaped the following anti-eco with their lives as it came down to a 1v1, but another clutch went their way at the hands ofKubski in the next round.
When a chance offered itself to the Swedes, Kubski replied with another huge play in the form of a snap triple-kill from an unfavorable position for 9-4. fnatic then finally stopped the streak at seven in a row, though Pogorzelski still made a chance out of an unwinnable 1v4 where Rönnquist’s team had complete control of the bomb.
Virtus.pro completed the half for a convincing 10-5 scoreline but ended up losing the second pistol round while Kajbjer and Dennis “dennis” Edman combined for five kills. The following couple of rounds weren’t without their issues however, as Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas picked up four kills in one of them but ended up losing the final 1v1.
From there on out Virtus.pro took a stand, starting with a 3v2 retake where they forced fnatic to take fights while the Swedish side had little time to plant, and yet another clutch went their way for 12-8. Kubski then showed another moment of great individual play, grabbing three kills up against a forcebuy, at which pointfnatic had to eco. Pogorzelski’s quad-kill put him up on 30 kills, while Edman wasn’t lagging too far behind at 25 but it was all for naught as Virtus.pro became the champions of ELEAGUE’s first season.
1.  Virtus.pro – $390,000 |
2.  fnatic – $140,000 |
3-4.  Natus Vincere – $60,000 |
3-4.  mousesports – $60,000 |
5-8.  Cloud9 – $50,000 |
5-8.  EnVyUs – $50,000 |
5-8.  Astralis – $50,000 |
| 5-8. NiP – $50,000 |
9-10.  Renegades – $40,000 |
9-10.  FaZe – $40,000 |
| 11-14. G2 – $40,000 |
11-14.  FlipSid3 – $40,000 |
11-14.  Gambit – $40,000 |
| 11-14. CLG – $40,000 |
15-16.  OpTic – $30,000 |
| 15-16. dignitas – $30,000 |
| 17-22. Selfless – $30,000 |
| 17-22. Echo Fox – $30,000 |
| 17-22. TSM – $30,000 |
| 17-22. NRG – $30,000 |
17-22.  compLexity – $30,000 |
| 17-22. Liquid – $30,000 |
23-24.  SK – $30,000 (disqualified) |
| 23-24. X – $30,000 (disqualified) |
Source: HLTV.org
