Next up we head into the winner’s match of Group A, where we see the mixed nationality team of HellRaisers head up against the Poles of Virtus.Pro. They see themselves set to face off on Mirage (VP), Cobblestone (HR) and Inferno (decider).
First up we get Mirage – the map we saw VP choose and one they’ve been known to play well on. It started out in a completely opposite fashion to how you would’ve expected it to go as HellRaisers, headed up by new boy bondik and starlet oskar, took the first seven rounds without any response from the Polish team. VP showed what could’ve been a resurgence as they picked up a set of three rounds to attempt to make a reasonable scoreline, and with some to-and-froing for the end of the half, the mixture was 10-5 up going into their T-side. Virtus.Pro took on the next half strongly, picking up four strong rounds before HR managed to answer back to stop them equalling up on score. But when there was a mistake of play from HellRasiers coupled with briliantness from the Poles, the Polish team pulled ahead to 14-13 with a hairs breadth between them and taking the first map. But oskar once again turned up and brought his team over the line as they took Mirage, showing up Virtus on their home map.
HellRaisers celebrating their win
Next up was to be Cobblestone and HellRasiers are riding high on the wave of their first map win. Starting off, the Polish side pick up the pistol but then they take a game of ping-pong between the two until VP are 4-2 up. Then it starts going the way of the first map as HR string together a long set of rounds, with STYKO showing up to help them along. But after being 7-4 up, they end up losing the final four maps to go and end the map 8-7 in favour of Virtus.Pro. Then HellRasiers show the form they have alongside skill, with an exceptional performance by oskar to help them along to take six rounds from the start allowing them to go 13-8 up – taking it close to the end. VP never really recovered as they managed to claw three rounds back to give them a more respectable scoreline as HR went over the edge – taking the game 16-13 and winning 2-0.
Next up is the dignitas v SK Gaming Lower Bracket game, set to be a cracker.
