15-year old Finn, TyLoo's rivals and dangerous Australians. Virtus.pro's Shanghai opponents

Virtus.pro G2A will face HAVU Gaming, Renegades and Flash in SL i-League Invitational Shanghai's group stage. 15-year old Finn, main rivals of TyLoo and venturous Australians – main facts about The Polish Five's opponents in China.

Flash – China's second team

The Poles will face the China representatives – team Flash – in the first match. The Chinese finished third in the Asian Minor (Asia Minor – ELEAGUE Major 2018) and had a good showing in the DreamHack Open Denver 2017, taking 3-4 place.

It's worth to note their regional success in three LAN-series:

1st place - eXTREMESLAND Asia Finals 2017
2nd place - WESG 2017 China Finals
1st place- CS:GO Super League 2017 - Summer Season

Flash is deservingly holding the spot of the top-2 team in China. They are considered to be the main opponents of TyLoo and have a great history of rivalry against them.

Team roster's rating (HLTV 2.0):

  • YuanZhang "AttackeR" Sheng – 1.25
  • YuLun "fancy1" Cai – 1.24
  • Andrew "kaze" Khong – 1.23
  • KunHua "LOVEYY" Bai – 1.05
  • QiFang "Karsa" Su –  0.97

HAVU Gaming – mix of young and experienced players from Finland

Perhaps, the most interesting Virtus.pro's group stage opponent – HAVU Gaming. The team's backbone consists of the two Counter-Strike veterans: xartE and KHRN. Since the iGame.com reshuffle, the team has claimed the top-1 spot in Finland.

HAVU Gaming's results:

  • 1st place – Finnish Esports League Season 3 Finals
  • 1st place – Connection LAN 2017
  • 1st place – Nordic Championship Season 1 Finals
  • 1st place – ESPORTSM.fi 2017 Finals

The Finns took the Chinese spots of Space Soldiers, who, in turn, declined to participate due to tournaments intersection.

15-year old Jere “sergej” Salo plays for HAVU. SL i-League Invitational Shanghai is the young player's major international debut.

sergej clutches 1 vs 5 on FPL

Sergej's stand-in performance for ENCE during the last year's DreamHack Tours Qualifiers already drew the attention to the talented player. In his 15 years, he already played over 3k hours of CS:GO, already unlocking access to FACEIT Pro League.

Team roster's rating (HLTV 2.0):

  • Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen – 1.38
  • Jere "sergej" Salo – 1.32
  • Otto "ottoNd" Sihvo – 1.25
  • Jesse "KHRN" Grandell – 1.22
  • Mikko "xartE" Välimaa – 1.16

Renegades – now not only Australians

VP's most experienced and dangerous group B opponents – Renegades. The team stopped being exclusively Australian after Nifty's (American) and NAF's (Canadian) arrival but improved dramatically skill-wise.

Worth to highlight their victory on the Asian Minor, and also 3-4 place in the DreamHack Open Denver 2017.

Renegades' results:

  • 1st place – Asia Minor – ELEAGUE Major 2018
  • 3-4th place – DreamHack Open Denver 2017
  • 13-16th place– ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017
  • 9-12th place – DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017

Renegades are the ones to challenge The Poles the most for the top spot in the group. American-Australian team has already proved their effectiveness against the Chinese teams – including Flash, defeating them 2:0.

Team roster's rating (HLTV 2.0):

  • Keith "NAF" Markovic – 1.23
  • Noah "Nifty" Francis – 1.04
  • Aaron "AZR" Ward – 1.02
  • Karlo "USTILO" Pivac – 1.00
  • Justin "jks" Savage – 0.97

Author: Anton Kozlov

The University of Denver's psychologist works in Virtus.pro. How does he support the team?

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