Swole Patrol take down Virtus.pro to secure last EPICENTER spot

Swole Patrol are through to the main stage of EPICENTER 2018 after beating Virtus.pro 2-0 in the consolidation final of the wildcard qualifier.

Michał "⁠snatchie⁠" Rudzki opened up the action on Train, Virtus.pro's map pick, with an ace in the pistol round. It was the kind of start that the Polish team needed after they had managed to let the upper bracket tie against HellRaisers, but things quickly went awry for them.

Swole Patrol responded in the next round with nothing but USPs and set up a very tight defence after that to keep the Terrorists at bay. Virtus.pro only managed to break the North Americans' streak in the 13th round, but that round was immediately traded back. Still, the Polish side proved that they were not still out of the game as Michał "⁠MICHU⁠" Müller and Piotr "⁠morelz⁠" Taterka overturned a 2v5 situation to make it a 12-3 half.

There was more misery for Virtus.pro, who were destroyed in the following pistol round. A successful eco shortly afterwards gave the Polish side a glimmer of hope, but Swole Patrol responded on a weak buy and followed it up with another round for a 16-4 rout.

Swole Patrol through to the main tournament

Next up was Nuke, a map Virtus.pro had not played competitively in the last three months. The Polish side got off on the wrong foot, losing the opening three rounds, but bounced back once they had money in the bank.

Down 3-4, Swole Patrol upped the pace and took a three-round lead before a quad kill from morelz put Virtus.pro back in the game, inspiring the Europeans to win the remaining rounds of the half.

The North Americans came out swinging in the second half and secured a massive lead after winning five rounds in a row. It looked like Swole Patrol had the game under control, but then they gifted Virtus.pro a way back into the game after losing a 5v2 to Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski and snatchie.

Virtus.pro rode that momentum and took a 14-13 lead, but Swole Patrol kept their composure and secured the remaining rounds of the half, with Ryan "⁠freakazoid⁠" Abadir hammering the final nail into the Europeans' coffin with a 1v2 clutch.

EPICENTER 2018 Wild Card QualifierBest of 3 Swole PatrolMatchpage 2 0 23rd October 2018 Virtus.pro 16Train 4 16Nuke 14

Swole Patrol	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Austin 'Cooper' AbadirCooper	51 - 30	+21	97.9	1.52
Braxton 'swag' Pierceswag	36 - 29	+7	84.9	1.28
Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadirfreakazoid	34 - 35	-1	82.0	1.17
Edgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoMarKE	35 - 29	+6	76.7	1.11
Jordan 'Zellsis' MontemurroZellsis	38 - 30	+8	73.7	1.10

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Michał 'MICHU' MüllerMICHU	34 - 39	-5	80.1	1.04
Michał 'snatchie' Rudzkisnatchie	37 - 39	-2	71.4	0.99
Piotr 'morelz' Taterkamorelz	37 - 38	-1	75.9	0.98
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	27 - 39	-12	57.7	0.75
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	18 - 39	-21	55.3	0.62

Swole Patrol follows HellRaisers, the upper bracket winner, into the EPICENTER main stage, kicking off at 12:00 . The complete groups look as follows:

Group A
FaZe
ENCE
Natus Vincere
HellRaisers Group B
Ninjas in Pyjamas
AVANGAR
Liquid
Swole Patrol Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadir Age: 25 Team: Swole Patrol Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 653 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.70 Piotr 'morelz' Taterka Age: 24 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 644 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.70 Virtus.pro #27 Filip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiMichał 'MICHU' MüllerPiotr 'morelz' TaterkaMichał 'snatchie' Rudzki FaZe #6 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenOlof 'olofmeister' KajbjerLadislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsNikola 'NiKo' KovačHåvard 'rain' Nygaard Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Filip 'NEO' Kubski Age: 31 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 1563 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.67 Michał 'snatchie' Rudzki Age: 20 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 563 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.69 Natus Vincere #2 Ioann 'Edward' SukharievDanylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoEgor 'flamie' VasilyevOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' Sharipov Liquid #3 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Swole Patrol #42 Braxton 'swag' PierceRyan 'freakazoid' AbadirEdgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoJordan 'Zellsis' MontemurroAustin 'Cooper' Abadir AVANGAR #31 Bektiyar 'fitch' BahytovTimur 'buster' TulepovAidyn 'KrizzeN' TurlybekovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' Ali Ninjas in Pyjamas #8 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundDennis 'dennis' EdmanJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' Sterner ENCE #12 Aleksi 'allu' JalliJani 'Aerial' JussilaSami 'xseveN' LaasanenAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenJere 'sergej' Salo Michał 'MICHU' Müller Age: 21 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1177 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.68 HellRaisers #11 Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowVladyslav 'bondik' NechyporchukÖzgür 'woxic' EkerBence 'DeadFox' BöröczIssa 'ISSAA' Murad