ESC Gaming has defeated Virtus.pro in the upper bracket final at SLTV StarSeries IV in a 2-1 marathon match (16-5 de_train_se, 14-16 de_mirage_go, 25-23 de_inferno_se) to clinch a spot in the grand final.

First up in the series was de_train_se where Virtus.pro tied the game at three quickly as terrorists after losing the pistol round. It was all she sang for the CIS based team however, as ESC's defense held for nine straight rounds.

As terrorists it was ESC's turn to lose the pistol round, but their early buy on the third round allowed them to quickly win the four rounds they needed to clinch the opening map with a score of 16-5.

For a while it looked as the Poles were too strong for Virtus and were simply going to run away with the match, as they once again secured a 12-3 lead at half as counter-terrorists, this time on de_mirage_go.

Second half saw a re-vitalized Virtus.pro step on the server, as they won twelve of the first thirteen rounds to force map point at 15-13. ESC won the next round to get to the final round, but Mihail "Dosia" Stolyarov's squad took the map 16-14.

NEO & co are in another final after a second place finish at NorthCon 

The Poles continued their strong defensive play on de_inferno_se, where good individual play and smart rotations allowed them to go up 9-3 before Virtus could string rounds together, still ending the half with a 10-5 lead.

Virtus.pro won six straight rounds before ESC finally got on board, tying the game at twelve. They then won the next three to force gamepoint, but ESC won the next three, including a one-on-two by Jarosław Jarząbkowski to force overtime.

ESC Gaming won two rounds as terrorists in the first overtime, but were unable to clinch the game as counter-terrorists despite forcing their first gamepoint in the series.

Second overtime started with ESC scoring the first two rounds as counter-terrorists, but Virtus.pro went on to win three of their own. It looked all but over with ESC down in a two-on-four and one of their members at 10hp, but the Poles wouldn't give up.

The third overtime saw the marathon match finally come to a close at 25-23, as ESC's two terrorist side rounds gave them enough to work with with Virtus.pro unable to match them as the attackers. SLTV StarSeries IVBest of 3 Virtus.proMatchpage 1 2 21st December 2012 ESC 5Nuke_se 16 16Mirage_ce 14 23Inferno_se 25

ESC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	85 - 70	+15	-	1.21
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	77 - 60	+17	-	1.17
Mariusz 'Loord' CybulskiLoord	64 - 60	+4	-	1.00
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	69 - 71	-2	-	0.94
Jakub 'kuben' Gurczyńskikuben	58 - 63	-5	-	0.88

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowANGE1	73 - 76	-3	-	0.95
Sergey 'Fox' StolyarovFox	68 - 74	-6	-	0.90
Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevAdreN	60 - 65	-5	-	0.87
Mihail 'Dosia' StolyarovDosia	63 - 70	-7	-	0.86
Emil 'kUcheR' AkhundovkUcheR	58 - 68	-10	-	0.84

Virtus.pro will face Imaginary in the consolidation final tomorrow at 13:00 at CyberSports Arena in Kiev to determine who will go up against ESC Gaming in the SLTV StarSeries IV grand final on Sunday.

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