Virtus.pro is the second team of the day to cause an upset by beating one of the tournament favourites, MOUZ, to win their opening game of the BLAST.tv Austin Major Stage 3.
VETO
- Virtus.pro removed Nuke
- Virtus.pro removed Ancient
- MOUZ removed Anubis
- MOUZ removed Dust2
- MOUZ removed Inferno
- Virtus.pro removed Train
- Mirage was left over
Map: Mirage; Winner: Virtus.pro; Score: 13-11
Going 3-0 up, VP found themselves in a strong position to open up the game against MOUZ, before they found themselves trading rounds, but they did manage to take away the big chunk of rounds, getting 8 in their favour before switching sides. VP did manage to extend their lead by two more rounds before dropping the ball, leading to MOUZ winning a streak of rounds to level the massive lead. Right when MOUZ were on the verge of hitting map point, VP managed to win the final 3 rounds of the map to edge out a close win right from the clutches of defeat. VP won the game with a hard-fought 13-11 scoreline, thanks to FL4MUS, with 20 kills, who stood out as the best player.
Having lost the opening game puts a lot of pressure on the young MOUZ team, who are infamous for choking, but with one more game on the opening day, it would be hard to imagine them walking away from the first day with a 0-2 record.