posted by EskayDota,
Virtus.pro’s victories are always so incredible to watch. How did they win The Kuala Lumpur Major, and how do they maintain their strength?

Individual talent in a fluid machine



Virtus.pro play together with beautiful synergy — we’ve seen it throughout the years. The synergy they display wouldn’t happen without the individual talent each of their players possesses. Whether it’s Vladimir 'No[o]ne' Minenko landing an impeccably timed Deafening Blast or Vladimir 'RodjER' Nikogosyan landing huge Black Holes, their talent is consistent.





When one player has a rough game, the others step up to the plate. The fluid performances from Virtus.pro seem to mean that Roman 'RAMZEs' Kushnarev never goes a game without solid farm, and any other member of the team is allowed to take on the role of playmaker.





Virtus.pro don’t win Majors just because of their team play or individual skill, there are a number of other elements that contribute to their consistent success. The individual plays, massive well-executed teamfights and superb flair might not win a game alone, but they all certainly help.


Drafting excellence



To outdraft the greats is to be a great. Playing both Evil Geniuses and Team Secret is a difficult ask. Outdrafting the likes of Tal 'Fly' Aizik, Sam 'Bulba' Sosale and Clement 'Puppey' Ivanov is an even more challenging one. Aleksey 'Solo' Berezin was consistently able to do that.

Not only picking heroes that perform well against the enemy picks, but also understanding comfort picks for his team, Solo drafted comfortably, confidently and efficiently. Taking into account those factors but also maintaining synergistic combination duos such as Enigma and Pheonix, or Tiny with Terrorblade, Virtus.pro were consistent with the results their drafts provided.


Solo lifting the ESL One Birmingham trophy



VP had the lowest diversity in hero pool out of the top three teams, picking 76 unique heroes at the Major. Despite this, teams were seemingly always at a loss as to which heroes to ban against Virtus Pro. When your players have so many heroes that could be classed as a comfort pick, it doesn’t matter who the enemy team chose to ban.


Understanding their opponents



Excellent captaincy comes with the full package of a successful team. Decision making, forethought and anticipation of enemy movements or objectives are all attributes that contribute to the success of the team.

Historically Secret and VP always seem to meet in the later stages of major tournaments. Back at ESL Hamburg, Team Secret eliminated Virtus.pro, leaving them in third place. Learning from these mistakes and adjusting play accordingly is an important factor to their success.

Being able to understand, anticipate and intercept movements from enemies is a game winning action. Perhaps the influence of new coach Arsenii 'ArsZeeqq' Usov has helped the VP players shape their understanding of other teams, with a fresh perspective on old enemies.


A class above



Team Secret were undefeated at the Major. They made it to the Upper Bracket Finals without dropping a single game in either the group or the knockout stage. They had won 9 consecutive games at the highest tier of competition, and looked to be a beyond unstoppable force.

The only team that looked like they might be able to put a stop to this tirade was Virtus.pro. They dropped two games in the group, and proceeded to storm their way through the elimination stages to meet Secret in the Upper Bracket Finals.



Ramzes666 with plays that win games



Virtus.pro took their fifth Major, more Major titles than any other team. In some sense of poetry, Virtus.pro beat Team Secret in the finals of ESL One Hamburg 2017, the first Major of the 2017/2018 DPC season, to which they achieved the same accomplishment this year. In the first Major of the season, VP beat Secret in the finals to take home the title.

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    EskayDota

    EskayDota

    Sam Kennard
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