Virtus.pro win DreamHack Masters Las Vegas with a 2-1 victory over SK (8-16 Cobblestone, 16-11 Train, 16-13 Mirage)!

The grand final of DreamHack Masters Las Vegas kicked off on Virtus.pro's comfort pick, Cobblestone, as the Polish side picked up another pistol round starting on the CT side. However, the anti-eco rounds have been a struggle for Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski and co. and it proved to be a problem on Cobblestone once again as they were unable to secure the following round.

After the Brazilian side took over the lead, Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski and Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas combined to clutch a 2v3 retake on B, but they once again struggled to string rounds together, losing a round to a low-buy SK shortly after to make it 5-4. Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo got an spectacular AWP pick on Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski through a smoke and a wall to set his team up for another well executed B push and SK furthered their lead on the Terrorist side of Cobblestone.

It was 9-4 before SK stopped abusing B and finally hit A, trading Snax effectively and getting another round on the board, but the Polish star replied in the following round with a beautiful AWP 4k on B to finish the half 10-5.

The second half started great for SK, with Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga pushing mid to flank Virtus.pro's B site pistol offensive, picking up two kills for his efforts. As their force buy attempts were unsuccsessful, Cobblestone was quickly out of Virtus.pro's hands and SK closed out the map 16-8—before the plow could be fully activated.

Pasha wasn't able to keep up his form from eariler in the tournament

Virtus.pro continued their trend of starting CT, winning the pistol and then losing the following round on SK's pick, Train. fallen's side cleaned up the anti-eco's and went up 3-1 off the back of that before they reset the economy of Virtus.pro by losing a close round and winning the subsequent one.

The Poles tied the score 6-6 thanks to some vintage play from Snax who was shutting down everyone trying to approach A, and with the economy finally going their way, the Poles took over the lead and finished the CT half 9-6 up.

The second pistol round went the way of SK and they tied the score 9-9, but only shortly, as Virtus.pro took the lead starting with the following gun round.

With the score 10-9, SK took down both Terrorist players in a 2v2 on B, but Snax's molotov denied the defuse and forced the Brazilians to eco. That small break was enough for Virtus.pro to take over the map and close it out 16-11 in the end. 

SK couldn't close out Mirage in the end

Another CT start and pistol round for Virtus.pro followed on Mirage, but the Polish squad finally managed to follow that round up with a clean anti-eco win. Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David showed up in the first buy round with four kills to get SK on board, but his team was reset in the following one—courtesy of two crucial AWP picks from Snax.

João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos continued to make his signature Mirage plays, putting pressure on the window room area and causing problems for the Virtus.pro. In round nine, he found the right timing and backstabbed the B site defenders as SK gained momentum on the Terrorist side. From 6-2 down, the Brazilians got to an 8-7 lead before the end of the first half with the slow, mid-control default being their weapon of choice.

The pistol round and the UMP and Tec-9 force-buy both went the way of SK as they went 11-7 up on the CT side. Virtus.pro secured a single gun round, the teams traded a few back in forth but it was the Poles to grab the momentum and tie the score 12-12.

SK had an opportunity to get the control of the match back, but TaZ's 1v2 clutch that made it 13-13 and break the economy of FalleN's team. From that point onwards, Virtus.pro powered on and closed Mirage out 16-13 to win the series 2-1 and take the title at DreamHack Masters Las Vegas 2017!

Key Moment:On the final map of the series, 13-12 down, TaZ clutched a 1v2 that looked unwinnable for the Poles and broke SK's economy, allowing his team to close out the map, series—and the tournament.

PotM:In a tight competition, Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski takes the PotM award due to his exceptional play on the final map, that was the tightest of the three, as well as high impact which could be seen through his first kill differential.

DreamHack Masters Las Vegas 2017Best of 3 Virtus.proMatchpage 2 1 20th February 2017 SK 8Cobblestone 16 16Train 11 16Mirage 13

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	55 - 56	-1	82.8	1.16
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	59 - 53	+6	76.1	1.10
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	58 - 55	+3	85.8	1.09
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	49 - 57	-8	65.7	0.92
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	49 - 59	-10	70.4	0.90

SK	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Marcelo 'coldzera' Davidcoldzera	77 - 52	+25	99.0	1.36
Fernando 'fer' Alvarengafer	63 - 54	+9	89.5	1.29
João 'felps' Vasconcellosfelps	69 - 61	+8	97.9	1.22
Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFalleN	33 - 51	-18	51.6	0.79
Epitacio 'TACO' de MeloTACO	38 - 53	-15	49.6	0.78

Final standings for DreamHack Masters Las Vegas:

1. Virtus.pro - $200,000
2. SK - $100,000
3-4. Astralis - $25,000
3-4. North - $25,000
5-8. Gambit - $15,000
5-8. Natus Vincere - $15,000
5-8. MOUZ - $15,000
5-8. Ninjas in Pyjamas - $15,000
9-12. Cloud9 - $5,000
9-12. FaZe - $5,000
9-12. fnatic - $5,000
9-12. OpTic - $5,000
13-16. Renegades - $5,000
13-16. TYLOO - $5,000
13-16. Complexity - $5,000
13-16. Misfits - $5,000

Professeur writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter. 

Marcelo 'coldzera' David Age: 22 Team: SK Rating 1.0: 1.22 Maps played: 447 KPR: 0.82 DPR: 0.61 Virtus.pro #2 Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasFilip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiJanusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiPaweł 'byali' Bieliński Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas Age: 30 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1172 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.67 João 'felps' Vasconcellos Age: 20 Team: SK Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 289 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.72 Filip 'NEO' Kubski Age: 29 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1177 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66 fnatic #10 Olof 'olofmeister' KajbjerDennis 'dennis' EdmanRobin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzMarkus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye Complexity #42 Rory 'dephh' JacksonDerek 'desi' BranchenKia 'Surreal' ManBradley 'ANDROID' FodorMichael 'Uber' Stapells Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo Age: 25 Team: SK Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 493 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.60 Natus Vincere #4 Ioann 'Edward' SukharievLadislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsDenis 'seized' KostinEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Ninjas in Pyjamas #6 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundRichard 'Xizt' LandströmAdam 'friberg' FribergJacob 'pyth' Mourujärvi Cloud9 #11 Jordan 'n0thing' GilbertTyler 'Skadoodle' LathamMike 'shroud' GrzesiekTimothy 'autimatic' TaJake 'Stewie2K' Yip MOUZ #14 Tomáš 'oskar' ŠťastnýNikola 'NiKo' KovačChristian 'loWel' Garcia AntoranTimo 'Spiidi' RichterDenis 'denis' Howell FaZe #7 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenAleksi 'allu' JalliFabien 'kioShiMa' FieyHåvard 'rain' NygaardJoakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga Age: 25 Team: SK Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 489 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.68 Gambit #9 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevDanylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoMihail 'Dosia' StolyarovRustem 'mou' TelepovAbay 'HObbit' Khassenov North #8 René 'cajunb' BorgMathias 'MSL' LauridsenPhilip 'aizy' AistrupEmil 'Magisk' ReifKristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke Misfits #36 Sean 'seang@res' GaresShahzeb 'ShahZaM' KhanSkyler 'Relyks' WeaverHunter 'SicK' MimsRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken TYLOO #25 Ke 'captainMo' LiuHui 'DD' WuYuanZhang 'Attacker' ShengHaoWen 'somebody' Xu OpTic #5 Spencer 'Hiko' MartinWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaOscar 'mixwell' CañellasKeith 'NAF' MarkovicTarik 'tarik' Celik Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski Age: 23 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 991 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.65 Renegades #26 Yaman 'yam' ErgenekonJustin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardRicardo 'Rickeh' MulhollandKarlo 'USTILO' Pivac SK #3 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloJoão 'felps' Vasconcellos Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski Age: 28 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1123 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.69 fallen