Virtus.pro beat Space Soldiers to keep ECS spot

Virtus.pro retain their spot in the European division of the Esports Championship Series (ECS) after defeating Space Soldiers 3-2 in the promotion stage.

The best-of-five series began on Train, where Virtus.pro got off to a great start, taking a total of ten rounds on the Terrorist side. But the Polish team would not able to hold on to that lead for long. Any round that they won on the defensive was quickly countered by Space Soldiers, who would go on to hit map point.

The Turkish team were unable to close it out, however, and wasted three map points, allowing Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski & co to take the game to overtime, in which the Polish team would run riot, winning four rounds straight en route to a 19-15 finish.

Map two, Cache, was a complete blowout. Virtus.pro gave their opponents very little room to operate in the first half and cruised to a commanding 13-2 lead. After losing the pistol round, Space Soldiers rallied back and won four rounds in a row, but once the Polish team got money to work with, they quickly locked down the map.

For the second time in a row, Virtus.pro beat Space Soldiers in a promotion match

Virtus.pro were looking to close the series out on Mirage, their own map pick, and things looked quite promising for them after they took a 10-5 lead on the CT side. However, the Turkish team came out of the break a different side and won six of the first seven rounds to tie up the game at 11-11.

A fast triple kill from Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas inside A put Virtus.pro back in the lead, with the Polish team following it up with two more rounds to bring the scoreline to 14-11. That was when Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli rose to the occasion with some key individual actions, helping Space Soldiers to hit map point before Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş dealt the finishing blow with a quad-kill.

Carrying their momentum into the fourth map, Cobblestone, Space Soldiers got out of the gate with all guns blazing, taking 13 rounds on the Terrorist side as Virtus.pro simply could not find a breather and were instantly reset every time that a round went their way. After switching to the CT side, the Turkish team won three rounds straight to lock down the map, 16-2.  

Space Soldiers almost completed a reverse sweep

It all came down to Inferno, where, after a highly-contested opening period, in which rounds went back and forth, Virtus.pro took control of proceedings and won eight rounds without response to secure a respectable 11-4 lead. After switching to the CT side, the Polish team picked up five rounds straight, cruising to a 16-4 win. 

ECS Season 4 EU PromotionBest of 5 Virtus.proMatchpage 3 2 29th September 2017 Space Soldiers 19Train 15 16Cache 6 14Mirage 16 2Cobblestone 16 16Inferno 4

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With HEROIC having won the other promotion match following a 3-0 clean sweep of Dignitas, the team list for ECS Season 4's European division is now complete, and it looks as follows:

Astralis	Envy
FaZe	fnatic
G2	GODSENT
Ninjas in Pyjamas	MOUZ
HEROIC	Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro #11 Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasFilip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiJanusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiPaweł 'byali' Bieliński HEROIC #16 Andreas 'MODDII' FridhMarco 'Snappi' PfeifferPatrick 'es3tag' HansenJakob 'JUGi' HansenNikolaj 'niko' Kristensen Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas Age: 31 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 1274 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.67 Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş Age: 22 Team: Space Soldiers Rating 1.0: 1.25 Maps played: 555 KPR: 0.89 DPR: 0.70 fnatic #13 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonMaikil 'Golden' Selim FaZe #4 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenOlof 'olofmeister' KajbjerLadislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' Nygaard Filip 'NEO' Kubski Age: 30 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 1279 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.67 Astralis #5 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzMarkus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye Space Soldiers #19 Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşBuğra 'Calyx' ArkınAhmet 'paz' KarahocaEngin 'ngiN' Kor Ninjas in Pyjamas #9 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundRichard 'Xizt' LandströmWilliam 'draken' SundinFredrik 'REZ' Sterner G2 #2 Richard 'shox' PapillonKenny 'kennyS' SchrubNathan 'NBK-' SchmittDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro MOUZ #12 Tomáš 'oskar' ŠťastnýChris 'chrisJ' de JongMiikka 'suNny' KemppiMartin 'STYKO' StykRobin 'ropz' Kool Engin 'MAJ3R' Küpeli Age: 26 Team: Space Soldiers Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 343 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.68 Dignitas #32 Ricardo 'fox' PachecoRuben 'RUBINO' VillarroelChristian 'loWel' Garcia AntoranAsger 'AcilioN' LarsenJoakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad Envy #15 Christophe 'SIXER' XiaCédric 'RpK' GuipouyAdil 'ScreaM' BenrlitomVincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerAlexandre 'xms' Forté GODSENT #33 Dennis 'dennis' EdmanAndreas 'znajder' LindbergSimon 'twist' EliassonJoakim 'disco doplan' GidetunFredrik 'freddieb' Buö