Virtus.pro won the first Major of the season
Virtus.pro are the champions of ESL One Hamburg 2017, the first Dota 2 Major of the new season. They brought home $500,000 and 750 Pro Circuit Points.
Virtus.pro earned the right to participate at the ESL Major via the CIS regional qualifier. The eight teams were split into two groups and fought according to the GSL format. VP defeated Keen Gaming and Liquid in the group stage, totaling a 2-0 score.
The recap of all Virtus.pro’s games in the Group B is available here.
In the best-of-three single-elimination playoffs they had the upper hand versus Newbee in the Semifinals, and encountered Team Secret in the Grand Final. It was a quick victory as VP brought home the trophy with two 40 minutes long games.
Prize pool distribution
1st - Virtus.pro - $500,000 and 750 points
2nd - Team Secret - $200,000 and 450 points
3rd-4th - Team Liquid and Newbee - $90,000 and 150 points
5-6th - Evil Geniuses and Keen Gaming - $40,000
7-8th - Fnatic and SG esports - $20,000
Virtus.pro vs Team Secret Bo3 recap
Vladimir "No[o]ne" Minenko got the first blood in game one, killing Lina in the mid lane at 1:48 minutes. Virtus.pro aggressive offlane, composed of Enchantress and Vengeful Spirit, won against Timbersaw: he only died a single time, but couldn’t overcome the two opponents.
Team Secret only successful matchup was the offlane, where Adrian "Fata" Trinks played Pugna versus Brewmaster. Both teams lost a tower in the first 10 minutes.
Virtus.pro maintained the net worth lead for the entire game, except from minute 12 to 17, due to a nasty teamfight during which they lost six heroes.
No[o]ne was unstoppable: he kept farming and reaping heroes, obtaining a 16-1-11 score once the game ended, and a 721 GPM. In the last 10 minutes of the match, Virtus.pro suffered no losses, and broke inside the enemy base.
Team Secret lost the mid barracks, but continued defending up to the very end. After winning two final fights at 40 minutes, VP quickly demolished the rest of their base.
Game one - Image: Dotabuff
Game two was also one-sided, and VP claimed the Bo3 with a 40 minutes long match. The first skirmish took place after 6 minutes, and ended with the death of Viper - Team Secret claimed the first blood.
Virtus.pro pretty much prevailed in all lanes, securing farm and getting more kills. The net worth difference went up to 5k in their favour.
Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard displayed a solid performance, but his Phantom Lancer wasn’t enough to secure the game for the team, which continued to decline in the mid game.
At 26 and 30 minutes, Virtus.pro team-wiped, giving new hopes to the opponents. Secret couldn’t take advantage of the situation, and shorty after lost the top and mid barracks.
This event marked the end of the match as they had to face a six-slotted No[o]ne on Viper, and a carry Vengeful Spirit played by Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev that melted them in teamfights. Both VP’s cores scored more than 10 kills each, and Viper inflicted 30k damage to enemy heroes.
Once again, Secret’s base was torn to pieces, and they called GG with only a tier 4 tower left to defend the Ancient.
Game two - Image: Dotabuff
