Virtus.pro defeated Astralis 2-0 to become the first semi-finalists at ESL One Cologne. (19-17 on Overpass and 19-15 on Train).

Virtus.pro and Astralis faced in the first quarter-final at ESL One Cologne in a best of-three series. With Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen as their stand-in Astralis started Overpass on the T-side.

The Danes picked up the pistol round after Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz's opening kill but couldn't stop a triple kill by Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński in the following round, losing the anti-eco. Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski's 1vs2 clutch gave Virtus.pro their sixth round and they made it 9-1 before Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen brought a round to his team with a triple kill.

TaZ & co. become semi-finalists 

After getting one more round, Astralis' struggle continued and they trailed 3-12 at halftime. The story of the second half was much different as Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth & company grabbed the first seven rounds of the half to come within two rounds of Virtus.pro (12-10).

Astralis even got a match point buy failed to close out as Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski's quad kill took the match to overtime. The CT-sided Astralis were overwhelmed in the first half of overtime, losing all three rounds. Virtus.pro eventually stopped the scary comeback and won Overpass 19-17.

Train was the second map and Astralis won their third pistol round of the series with zonic picking up a triple kill. Virtus.pro answered in the third round with an early weapon purchase and went on a three round streak, taking the lead.

It was another rough game for zonic

Astralis responded harshly, grabbing nine of the ten remaining rounds in the half in a dominant fashion. The Danes led 11-4 at halftime.

The Danish team won yet another pistol round but lost the third round of the half as Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas secured a triple kill and the round (13-5). Virtus.pro's comeback effort kicked off after this point and they managed to make it 14-11 but a 2vs3 victory by karrigan and device gave the Danes four match points. Virtus.pro ultimately were able to take it to overtime with a four round streak.

After giving up two kills in each three first half overtime rounds, Virtus.pro closed out all three of them and finished the match 19-15 and the series 2-0, eliminating Astralis and becoming the first semi-finalists in Cologne.

ESL One Cologne 2016Best of 3 Virtus.proMatchpage 2 0 8th July 2016 Astralis 19Overpass 17 19Train 15

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Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas Age: 30 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1013 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.67 Virtus.pro #7 Paweł 'byali' BielińskiJanusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiWiktor 'TaZ' WojtasFilip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski Danny 'zonic' Sørensen Age: 29 Team: AstralisC Nicolai 'device' Reedtz Age: 20 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 708 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.63 Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski Age: 23 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 828 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth Age: 20 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 860 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.62 Paweł 'byali' Bieliński Age: 22 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 851 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.65 Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski Age: 28 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 964 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.69 Finn 'karrigan' Andersen Age: 26 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 758 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.69 Astralis #8 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenAndreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethNicolai 'device' ReedtzLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderDanny 'zonic' Sørensen