Mr. Cat Invitational Europe: Virtus.pro Claims the Title

The final match of the Mr. Cat Invitational Europe featured Virtus.pro going against Team Empire. This should have been an easy job for Virtus.pro who had a very good period recently, culminating in them finishing in the second place at the Kiev Major. However, it seems that Virtus.pro have taken some time to relax before coming to this tournament. They were unable to display a performance similar to the one they had at the Kiev Major.

Virtus.pro received the direct invite for the second stage of this tournament from the organizers. That meant that Virtus.pro will be joining other teams in the semi-finals of the Mr. Cat Invitational. Besides that, that also meant that Virtus.pro would have to play only three matches in order to lift the trophy.

Team Empire a Worthy Opponent

However, as it is sometimes the case with situations like these, that did not happen. Virtus.pro’s first opponent in the semi-final was Team Empire. They received the direct invitation for the first stage of the Mr. Cat Invitational Europe. Team Empire was defeated by Ninjas in Pyjamas in the first round of the first stage, but they managed to come back through the lower brackets and secure their spot in the semi-final against Virtus.pro.

In the match against Team Empire, Virtus.pro has been far from what we’ve become used to from them. They struggled with almost all the aspects of the game. On the other hand, motivated by their performances and wins in the lower bracket, Team Empire came into the semi-finals ready to do the work.

Even though many thought that this will be the end of Team Empire at this tournament, that did not happen. On the contrary, they imposed the control of the match at a very early stage of the Game One. In the end, Team Empire managed to defeat Virtus.pro with the score 2:1 and they advanced to the finals of the upper bracket.

In the finals of the upper bracket, Team Empire faced Team Secret who also performed at Kiev Major earlier. However, that did not help them a lot as Team Empire was able to sweep them from the match by winning with the score 2:0. With that win, they secured their place in the grand final of the Mr. Cat Invitational.

An Uphill Battle

On the other hand, Virtus.pro was forced to fight for their place in the Grand Final through the lower bracket. In their first match in the lower bracket, they had to face Prodota Gaming in what turned out to be a very tough match. At the end, they managed to defeat Prodota Gaming, and everybody was wondering what happened to Virtus.pro after the Kiev Major.

During the finals of the lower bracket that Virtus.pro played against Team Secret. In this match, they displayed a performance similar to that at the Kiev Major. They managed to sweep Team Secret and secure another match against Team Empire in the Grand Final of Mr. Cat Invitational.

The final match saw both teams winning one of the first two games, taking the finals to the third and the deciding game. With a huge experience of the previous tournaments on their side, Virtus.pro was able to handle the pressure much better. In the end, it was Virtus.pro that won the deciding match, and with that, they won the $25,000 prize and Mr. Cat Invitational title. However, if Virtus.pro wants to have any real chances at The International 7 in August, they will have to improve many things moving forward.