Team EnVyUs vs Virtus Pro

WESG 2017 Europe & CIS Regional Finals,

Today is the start of the group stages for WESG 2017, for the European and CIS regions. In our first more known matchup, we will be looking at a best of one game between the French team EvVyUs, and Poland's own Virtus Pro. Theses two teams have a long history of being some of the best in the game, though with EnVyUs' roster changes happening all this past year, they have been struggling. Along with their struggle, Virtus Pro have been having issues themselves. The constant changing of their "In Game Leader" role has caused a lot of confusion and poor results for the Polish powerhouse. Regardless of the struggles, these two teams meet here and now, let's discuss who will take this match.

EnVyUs:

Envyus will actually be playing with a stand in for this event. Fabien 'kioShiMa' Fiey, a former Envy player and most recently seen being cut from the starting five man roster of FaZe, Kioshima is a notable talent and will be standing in for everyone's favorite headshot machine; Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom.

Best of one games usually fall to the most common map, let's look at Envyus' map pool. "Cache" is Envy's highest win rate map, which sits at a record of 10-7. Following this pattern of win-rate, "Inferno" sits next at a record of 12-9. Then "Overpass" at 2-2. "Cobblestone" is Envy's most played map but has the negative record of 13-14. "Train" follows with an 8-10 record. "Nuke" sits second to last at 4-9. And finally all the way at the bottom is "Mirage" at 0-1.

Virtus Pro:

Virtus Pro have had a rocky year, starting all the way back at the beginning of the year they sat unquestionably at the number one team in the world, but as teams adapt and roles change, they've slowly found themselves unable to compete against what would be easy teams for them. Though Virtus Pro has kept fighting and in recent form have made great strides to become the worlds best again, and I know a lot of VP fans out there would like them to do so.

Looking at VP's map pool we can compare them with Envyus and try to find what map will be played. In the context of win rate we start with "Nuke" holding a record of 5-2. Next is "Cobblestone" at 7-5. "Inferno" is the most played map for VP, it's record is 12-10. "Cache" is where VP dip into the non-win percentage maps "Cache" sits at a record of 9-9. "Mirage" is 8-9 just barely missing the even split. "Train" is way down there with a record of 4-13. And finally "Overpass" is very rarely played, but when it is, VP lose. The record on "Overpass" is 0-2.

Map Pick/Ban:

"Overpass" will be the likely first map banned by VP. Envy will in turn, ban out "Nuke. VP's second ban will likely be "Cache" forcing Envy's hand. Envy's response will be a ban on "Mirage" as the remaining 3 maps they are all comfortable on. If VP are smart they will ban "Train" and Envy will close it out with the final ban on "Cobblestone". "Inferno" will be more than likely the map that will be played.

Final Thoughts:

Virtus Pro have been looking more and more stable as time progresses, taking big steps to advance their game back to the height at which it once was. Envyus will be playing with a stand in at this event and I hope that wouldn't be a problem, but since the man he is replacing is the headshot machine himself, I fear Envy might not make it very far. Good luck everyone and I expect VP to take the game, but not in flying colors by any means.