Virtus.pro are through to the grand final at SL i-League Invitational Shanghai after defeating Heroic 2-0 in the semi-finals (16-14 on Nuke and 16-7 on Cache).

The best-of-three series kicked off on Nuke where the CT-sided HEROIC won the pistol round. Because Virtus.pro planted the bomb in the pistol round, they geared up in the third round but couldn't win it as HEROIC extended their lead to 3-0 with Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen's triple kill.

The Polish squad got their first round win two rounds later to trail 1-4. However, HEROIC didn't let their opponents start a streak as the Danes went on to lead 10-2. Virtus.pro salvaged their T-side campaign with three round victories at the end of the half and trailed 5-10 at halftime.

VP have reached another grand final

Virtus.pro's momentum carried over to the CT-side as they won the first nine rounds of the second half to lead 14-10. HEROIC ended Virtus.pro's twelve round streak, winning four rounds and tying the game at 14-14.

In the penultimate round of the map, Jakob "⁠JUGi⁠" Hansen got two kills in a 1vs3 situation but was stopped by Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski who gave Virtus.pro one map point. The Poles finished it off with a 3vs3 retake, winning the map 16-14.

Heroic were unable to win a map against VP

The second map, Cache, started with HEROIC on the CT-side. Andreas "⁠MODDII⁠" Fridh got a quad kill in a 2vs4 post-plant situation to win the first round for HEROIC. After losing the following two rounds, Virtus.pro answered with pashaBiceps's quad kill as they trailed 3-1.

Virtus.pro couldn't initiate a streak and HEROIC led 7-3 at one point in the first half. However, just like on Nuke, Virtus.pro started a comeback and finished the first half with an 8-7 lead. Virtus.pro had a strong CT-side and won eight rounds in a row to win the map 16-7 and series 2-0, advancing to the grand final in Shanghai.

SL i-League Invitational Shanghai 2017Best of 3 Virtus.proMatchpage 2 0 4th November 2017 HEROIC 16Nuke 14 16Cache 7

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	50 - 29	+21	89.1	1.49
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	39 - 33	+6	78.0	1.15
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	32 - 34	-2	74.8	1.02
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	32 - 35	-3	64.4	0.97
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	33 - 43	-10	68.8	0.86

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Patrick 'es3tag' Hansenes3tag	41 - 38	+3	84.9	1.20
Andreas 'MODDII' FridhMODDII	41 - 39	+2	89.1	1.11
Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferSnappi	34 - 37	-3	73.4	1.03
Jakob 'JUGi' HansenJUGi	35 - 38	-3	72.9	1.01
Nikolaj 'niko' Kristensenniko	23 - 34	-11	46.3	0.72

Andreas 'MODDII' Fridh Age: 28 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 842 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66 Patrick 'es3tag' Hansen Age: 21 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 496 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.68 HEROIC #16 Andreas 'MODDII' FridhMarco 'Snappi' PfeifferPatrick 'es3tag' HansenJakob 'JUGi' HansenNikolaj 'niko' Kristensen Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski Age: 29 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1269 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.69 Virtus.pro #6 Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasFilip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiJanusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiPaweł 'byali' Bieliński Jakob 'JUGi' Hansen Age: 20 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 471 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.61