Virtus Pro have won the Summit for the third consecutive time, showing once again why they are one of the teams to watch out for on the road to The International 8.
Back-to-back titles in esports are few and far between—more so in events from the same tournament series. With a three-peat achieved in the Summit and a solid 3-1 victory over Fnatic in the grand finals, it’s clear that VP is not only fearsome, but also highly consistent.
After effortlessly dispatching all-Polish roster Team Kinguin in their semifinal best-of-three, VP rolled into the final match with the utmost confidence. The first game was pretty much a walk in the park for them, with their victory coming in at less than 30 minutes.
Fnatic struck back in the second game thanks to Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao’s signature Terrorblade and Djardel Jicko “DJ” Mampusti’s masterful Rubick play, but the SEA team could not capitalize on the potential momentum swing. The third game was all about Pavel “9pasha” Khvastunov, who scored a staggering 15 kills on Shadow Demon. That’s a support hero, mind you.
VP put the final nail in the coffin in the fourth game, achieving victory even faster than they did in game one. Fnatic simply could not withstand the onslaught of Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev’s Broodmother, with which he scored 14 kills in just 26 and a half minutes. The pace at which he farmed was absolutely incredible, ending the game just seven points shy of 800 gold per minute.
At that rate, he was able to purchase a Desolator in just nine minutes, a Mask of Madness in 12, a Black King Bar in 17, and an Eye of Skadi in 25.
While a triple title defense is nice, the best part of this victory is the fact that they are now 150 points higher on the Dota 2 Pro Circuit standings. Even though were playing with Ivan “ArtStyle” Antonov as a stand-in for captain Alexei “Solo” Berezin, the points they have earned through The Summit 8 will help them keep their position in the Pro Circuit leaderboards in Solo’s absence.
A fantastic way to cap off their highly successful campaign in 2017, for sure. VP can be proud of what they accomplished this year, and can go into 2018 with their heads held high.
