By Trevor "Midway" Schmidt

A game of momentum and rotations ended with a statement of revival. While it wasn’t a dominating performance, it was a step in the right direction for NiP. Erasing a demo from the past, the former SK.swe members Potti and Heaton and the rest of NiP defeated Virtus.Pro in an emotional game.

A year ago, a SK.swe team that was on top of the World came into ESWC expecting to walk away with a title but ended up just staring at the screaming faces of a brand new face in the scene: Virtus.Pro. Today, it was NiP doing the screaming as they defeated the Russians. The key play of the game was one of NiP’s new players "coming up big" in a way many expected him to do all along.

Walle, a recruit from EYE and mTw, faced four Virtus.Pro members and a decisive first gun round of the second half, the 19th round of the match. A win for Virtus.Pro would even out the second half making it 1-3 and putting them in a position to rally back from a 9-6 deficit in the first half. Instead, Walle shut the door on them, taking control while Virtus.Pro made a rookie mistake by spreading out.

Walle was able to face off against Johan, Viktor and Boris, taking them out individually. Starting out inside of the main bombsite of de_inferno, Walle tore a path to the banana bombsite by discarding the three Virtus.Pro members on his way to that site in a misdirection move. Once he reached the site, he got the plant, leaving Virtus.Pro’s remaining teammate so confused that he was in the far hallways expecting the bomb to be planted in the main bombsite.

The misdirection forced the Virtus.Pro member to save and give NiP a 4-0 round victory. The round was critical not only because it gave NiP a large lead, but it also removed any chance for Virtus.Pro to gain the all-important AWP’s. Just how important became evident later in the match.

With a 6-0 score for NiP, Virtus.Pro went with two AWP’s in the hands of Viktor and Boris. Boris responded with four huge AWP frags to create a 6-1 score. This was followed by strong AWP play from Viktor the following round. The two players set a tempo that allowed Virtus.Pro to rally and make a very interesting match out of a game that could have been a blowout. The score went from 16-6 to 16-13 as the Russians scored seven rounds in a row.

The rally wasn’t anything unusual as the match saw huge momentum swings. After starting 0-2, Virtus.Pro was able to buy early in the first half, jumping on NiP and putting together a six round streak and a 6-2 lead. Still, NiP wasn’t out of it as they closed out the half by winning the last seven rounds.

Rotations were also a key as NiP on their CT side showed how important rotations on de_inferno are. By placing zet inside of banana bombsite and having ins play hallway and right side of the main bombsite, the remaining experienced and highly skilled NiP players, Heaton, Potti and Walle, could rotate between the sites. The skill of these players at perceiving the rushes and fakes allowed NiP to win the first half.

Virtus.Pro’s answer was to use Viktor’s AWP in the banana hallway to basically isolate NiP and leave four Virtus.Pro members in the main bombsite. The problem for Virtus.Pro was that these tactics only worked in rounds were Viktor had an AWP.

Rotations and momentum shifts decided this match and left NiP feeling good about their chances in the rest of the tournament. Virtus.Pro need not hang their heads though as history has proven that second seeded teams, after the first round of group play, are not out of this competition in Paris, France in any way.