Virtus.pro are through to the Upper Bracket final at the SL i-League Invitational #1 after defeating HellRaisers 2-0 (16-6 on Mirage and 16-12 on Cache)

The first Upper Bracket semi-final in Kiev brought together HellRaisers and Virtus.pro, fresh off victories over SK Gaming and Worst Players, respectively, in the opening round of the tournament.

Mirage, the opening map of the series, began with HellRaisers getting out to a quick 4-0 lead. After two unsuccessful buy rounds, Virtus.pro managed to break through HellRaisers' defense in an eco round as they caught Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný off-guard alone in B and wreaked havoc with the Czech player's AWP.

Virtus.pro went on to add the next four rounds to their tally, capitalising on every mistake made by HellRaisers. The game then entered a highly-contested period, with rounds going back and forth, but in the end the Polish team managed to take nine rounds into the second half.

The second half began with Virtus.pro winning the pistol round and the following anti-eco round. A third-round buy from HellRaisers almost paid dividends, but Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas saved the day with a 1vs2 clutch after Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk had picked up four kills. Down 6-13, HellRaisers still called a timeout in a bid to adjust their offense, but Virtus.pro continued pressing on and locked down the map 16-6.

Virtus.pro advance to the Upper Bracket final 

The next map was Cache, where HellRaisers got off to a flying start, winning the opening five rounds of the game. Virtus.pro then finally managed to get a round on the board, actually forcing HellRaisers to go on an eco to build up their bank.

Once their economy was stabilised, HellRaisers went on another great run and brought the scoreline to 11-2 before Virtus.pro picked up the last two rounds of the half.

Now playing on the CT side, Virtus.pro won the first seven rounds of the half to reduce the deficit to a minimum, forcing HellRaisers to call a tactical pause. After returning to the game, the European mixture were able to secure a round, but the Polish team quickly regained control of proceedings and sealed the deal without giving up more rounds.

SL i-League Invitational #1Best of 3 HellRaisersMatchpage 0 2 20th May 2016 Virtus.pro 6Mirage 16 12Cache 16

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	48 - 30	+18	109.2	1.64
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	43 - 31	+12	89.1	1.32
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	36 - 30	+6	76.8	1.23
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	38 - 28	+10	66.9	1.19
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	34 - 33	+1	77.5	1.07

HellRaisers	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Martin 'STYKO' StykSTYKO	39 - 38	+1	92.1	1.17
Vladyslav 'bondik' Nechyporchukbondik	34 - 41	-7	81.5	0.92
Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastnýoskar	27 - 40	-13	57.5	0.73
Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowANGE1	27 - 42	-15	68.4	0.69
Patrik 'Zero' ŽúdelZero	25 - 38	-13	57.5	0.68

Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas Age: 29 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 989 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.67 Martin 'STYKO' Styk Age: 20 Team: HellRaisers Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 324 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.67 Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastný Age: 24 Team: HellRaisers Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 344 KPR: 0.81 DPR: 0.66