CEVO Gfinity Professional Season 9 FinalsTS, VP take wins at CEVO Gfinity S9
Tempo Storm and Virtus.pro advanced to their respective groups' winners' match, as they defeated SK (2-0; Train 16-12, Cobblestone 16-6) and Splyce (2-1; Mirage 16-14, Cobblestone 11-16, Overpass 16-11), respectively.
To open up CEVO Gfinity S9 Finals, SK took on Tempo Storm in group B's initial round, starting on Train. The Brazilians sent a strong message to their opponents with a stellar CT side, where they only lost one round after a triple-kill and a 1-on-1 from Michael "Friis" Jørgensen.
However, the match wasn't quite as over as many would assume, as the Danes started coming back with six rounds in a row with a won pistol before Tempo Storm took match point at 15-7. SK still didn't budge though - Jacob "Pimp" Winneche racked up eight kills over the next five rounds, but it wasn't quite enough for a comeback as Henrique "HEN1" Teles and company came out on top at 16-12.
Map two, Cobblestone, was much more clear-cut, as Tempo Storm once again started with a very strong showing with 12 rounds on the Terrorist side on their own map. That time around it didn't take as much time to close it out, as they picked up four CT rounds out of seven in total for 16-6, 2-0.
 Tempo Storm |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42 - 34 | +8 | 92.2 | 1.31 | |
| 38 - 32 | +6 | 88.5 | 1.27 | |
| 34 - 29 | +5 | 79.4 | 1.25 | |
| 42 - 29 | +13 | 85.2 | 1.23 | |
| 29 - 23 | +6 | 61.1 | 1.05 |
  SK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38 - 36 | +2 | 84.0 | 1.10 | |
| 31 - 37 | -6 | 72.7 | 0.92 | |
| 25 - 39 | -14 | 59.4 | 0.74 | |
| 27 - 38 | -11 | 64.3 | 0.74 | |
| 26 - 36 | -10 | 61.1 | 0.72 |
Tempo StormK - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
42 - 34
+8
92.2
1.31
38 - 32
+6
88.5
1.27
34 - 29
+5
79.4
1.25
42 - 29
+13
85.2
1.23
29 - 23
+6
61.1
1.05
SKK - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
38 - 36
+2
84.0
1.10
31 - 37
-6
72.7
0.92
25 - 39
-14
59.4
0.74
27 - 38
-11
64.3
0.74
26 - 36
-10
61.1
0.72
To begin their best-of-three in group A, Virtus.pro picked de_mirage against Splyce and started on the defense. Towards the beginning the first half went back and forth, some of which was due to individual brilliance such as Abraham "abE" Fazli's all-headshot quad-kill and a 1-on-1 for 3-3.
After it was 6-5 the Poles proceeded to grab all remaining four rounds for a convincing 10-5 halftime score. A pistol round and three more afterwards allowed Splyce to take it back to 10-9 before Virtus.pro retook control with three rounds in a row.
At 13-10, however, Null element's heroics, a 1-on-3 defuse in a smoke, helped his team take a one-round lead, but poor economy pushed them on an eco once they lost at 14-14. Virtus.pro took full advantage of that and managed to close out map one in the last regulation round.
Map one didn't seem to rattle the North American squad, who took seven out of nine rounds as Terrorists after Virtus.pro made it an even 3-3 following a lost initial pistol round.
Virtus.pro dodged a bullet
Winning the second pistol round didn't turn out quite the same way for Splyce, who conceded the anti-forcebuy much like on Mirage, which allowed the Poles to make it even at 11-11. From there on, however, Virtus.pro barely got a foot in most of the remaining rounds, as Splyce delivered a surprising 16-11 win to make the series even.
Overpass was very much in control of Virtus.pro from start to finish - starting with a 5-0 lead, the Poles found their way to a commanding 11-4 half as Counter-Terrorists.
After VP lost the second pistol round, Paweł "byali" Bieliński took the first two gunrounds into his hands with five kills, which put Splyce into an undesirable position where they ended up in a poor economical situation. The American-Canadian lineup fought back for a while mostly thanks to Arya "arya" Hekmat's AWP skills, but Virtus.pro proceeded to take the game at 16-11, 2-1.
Selfless will next be taking on Dignitas in their first appearance outside of North America.
Michael 'Uber' Stapells
Ruben 'RUBINO' Villarroel
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