YEKINDAR shines as Virtus.pro edge out Astralis to advance to IEM Katowice semi

The Latvian put up difference-making performances on Overpass and Inferno to pull Virtus.pro through to the top-four stage.

In the first-ever encounter between the two lineups, Virtus.pro have defeated Astralis 2-1 to secure their berth in the IEM Katowice semi-finals, in which the CIS side will face Liquid on Saturday at 18:30 . Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis was the difference maker in the match, as he recorded a 1.37 rating and 99.2 ADR over the course of the series on the back of carry performances on Overpass and Inferno.

Having had plenty of success on the map throughout the tournament with three consecutive wins, Virtus.pro opted for Overpass as the opener and added a fourth to that list on the back of a dominant start on the Terrorist side. YEKINDAR was finding openings wherever he went, which left Astralis with no answers in the first seven rounds, and as the first half approached the closing stages the Danes struggled for momentum, clinching only four rounds.

YEKINDAR's solo quad-kill helped tip Inferno in Virtus.pro's favor

Success finally came when sides switched after Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz won a 1v1 clutch in the pistol round and Astralis got within three rounds of their opponents. The streak quickly came to a halt when Virtus.pro found early-round advantages, however, and the CIS squad went on to close the first half with the help of a 1v2 clutch from Sanjar "⁠SANJI⁠" Kuliev and a solo quad-kill from YEKINDAR.

Train saw Astralis get off to a much better start with five consecutive rounds on the offense after surviving a dangerous antiforcebuy. Virtus.pro didn't take long to recover and even took the lead after retaking the B bombsite over and over, before the Danish side switched it up and got away with a one-round lead by halftime.

With a second pistol in the bag, Astralis reached double digits but got broken immediately, as YEKINDAR's consecutive double entries gave Virtus.pro easy access to the A bombsite to equalize things and build up a massive economic advantage. Tightening up their defense, Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander's side slowly chipped away at their opponents' bank until there was none left, which allowed the Danes to force the deciding map at 16-12.

Little separated the two teams on Inferno at first when the two sides stole rounds from one another off individual plays, with YEKINDAR, Alexey "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev, Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov and Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif all stepping up with big multikills. Astralis pulled away to lead 7-3 after several attacks towards A saw them get the advantage and force VP to save guns repeatedly, until Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali stepped up to the plate with a triple and YEKINDAR added another to make it an even game.

After switching over to the defense, Astralis hoped to retain their small advantage after winning a second-round forcebuy, but another massive play from YEKINDAR stopped them in their tracks and Virtus.pro never looked back. Only two more rounds went the other way, one courtesy of a gla1ve clutch, as VP managed to keep Astralis low on money when it mattered to close the series 16-11, 2-1.

IEM Katowice 2021Best of 3 Virtus.proMatchpage 2 1 26th February 2021 Astralis 16Overpass 10 12Train 16 16Inferno 11

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisYEKINDAR	75 - 57	+18	99.2	1.37
Timur 'buster' Tulepovbuster	55 - 41	+14	74.0	1.15
Alexey 'Qikert' GolubevQikert	55 - 50	+5	74.2	1.12
Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievSANJI	41 - 48	-7	57.8	0.91
Dzhami 'Jame' AliJame	38 - 43	-5	51.3	0.91

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	55 - 45	+10	72.3	1.18
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	51 - 50	+1	70.1	1.04
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	54 - 57	-3	73.5	1.03
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	47 - 58	-11	75.0	0.95
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	32 - 55	-23	50.3	0.69

Dzhami 'Jame' Ali Age: 22 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 957 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.55 Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander Age: 25 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 1466 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.65 Sanjar 'SANJI' Kuliev Age: 23 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 611 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.66 Timur 'buster' Tulepov Age: 21 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1043 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.62 Alexey 'Qikert' Golubev Age: 22 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1037 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.64 Emil 'Magisk' Reif Age: 22 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1224 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 Nicolai 'device' Reedtz Age: 25 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 1644 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.62 Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Virtus.pro #6 Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievTimur 'buster' TulepovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Age: 21 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 880 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.69 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Liquid #5 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipMichael 'Grim' Wince