Virtus.pro have secured a spot in the quarter-finals of IEM Katowice after seeing off FaZe 16-13 on de_mirage.

FaZe came out strongly in the game and got out to a 3-0 lead before Virtus.pro took the first gun round. FaZe were on the brink of hitting back, which would have severely hurt Virtus' economy, but they made a massive blunder and allowed Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski to do a ninja defuse with the entire team still alive. Virtus.pro went on to take the lead, but that quickly changed as FaZe took a string of rounds themselves.

Down 4-6, Virtus.pro picked up a round as Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski went huge with the AWP and got four kills to his name. The rest of the half was highly contested, with Virtus.pro taking a narrow 8-7 half-time lead.

Virtus.pro advance to the quarter-finals 

Virtus further grew their lead by winning the pistol round and the following anti-ecos, with FaZe taking the first gun round. The former G2 team were, however, unable to go on a run of their own as Virtus continued to pick up rounds to keep their opponents' economy in check.

At one point Virtus enjoyed a commanding 13-8 lead and many thought that the game was about to come to a close. FaZe still fought valiantly and brought the scoreline to 13-14, only to fall at the final hurdle as Virtus picked up back-to-back rounds.

IEM Katowice 2016Best of 1 Virtus.proMatchpage 16 13 3rd March 2016 FaZe 16Mirage 13

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	22 - 16	+6	83.8	1.19
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	18 - 20	-2	84.1	1.03
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	19 - 17	+2	59.3	1.03
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	20 - 22	-2	81.2	0.99
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	11 - 21	-10	58.3	0.69

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	22 - 19	+3	82.5	1.23
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostadjkaem	22 - 20	+2	85.1	1.17
Mikail 'Maikelele' BillMaikelele	18 - 18	0	77.6	1.12
Ricardo 'fox' Pachecofox	18 - 17	+1	75.3	1.09
Philip 'aizy' Aistrupaizy	16 - 17	-1	62.3	0.92

Filip 'NEO' Kubski Age: 28 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 925 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski Age: 22 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 739 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65