Renegades plow through VP to win StarLadder Invitational in Shanghai
The grand final in Shanghai started with a map veto that resulted in Mirage picked by Renegades, Train for Virtus.pro and Cobblestone set as the deciding map for the series. After losing to the Poles just two days prior in 2-0 fashion, the North American/Australian squad weren't favored coming into this match.
Going into Mirage, Virtus.pro set the tone for the series by taking the pistol round and the two subsequent rounds following. This was answered with a mirror of three consecutive rounds by Renegades once they had an economy for utility to properly set up executes, though the rounds were close. VP struggled to string anything together for the remainder of the half, resulting in a 9-6 score line in favor of Renegades.
The second half began similarly to the first, with VP taking the pistol round which typically results in at least the two following rounds to be in their favor, but were thwarted by a force-buy from Renegades on round three. Momentum had shifted, and VP struggled to find any holes in the CT defense. With a strong showing from Justin "jks" Savage and Keith "NAF" Markovic, Renegades ran away with the game, ending it with a decisive 16-8 finish.
The tides had turned. Carrying over their momentum from Mirage, Renegades started off on Train with a 3-0 lead as they picked up their first pistol round of the series on the Terrorist side. After a hiccup caused by VP's first gun round, they fired back with another four, courtesy of a remarkable 1v3 clutch by Karlo "USTILO" Pivac. The half ended 10-5 in favor of Renegades, with the bare minimum of rounds one would prefer going onto the Terrorist side for Virtus.pro.
With unwavering confidence going into the second half, Renegades mimicked the first half by making quick work of the first three rounds of their CT-side. Unshaken, VP began fight back and almost even out the score line with five consecutive rounds before Renegades closed out the map and series 16-10.
Virtus.proRenegades| Virtus.pro |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Paweł 'byali' Bieliński |
38 - 38 | +0 | 91.1 | 68.0% | 1.13 |
| Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski |
34 - 34 | +0 | 57.8 | 74.0% | 0.91 |
| Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski |
34 - 38 | -4 | 71.9 | 66.0% | 0.91 |
| Filip 'NEO' Kubski |
29 - 38 | -9 | 66.0 | 58.0% | 0.80 |
| Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas |
15 - 36 | -21 | 46.9 | 58.0% | 0.62 |
| Renegades |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Noah 'Nifty' Francis |
47 - 27 | +20 | 87.4 | 78.0% | 1.48 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
39 - 30 | +9 | 90.9 | 80.0% | 1.27 |
 Justin 'jks' Savage |
32 - 30 | +2 | 71.1 | 80.0% | 1.13 |
| Karlo 'USTILO' Pivac |
33 - 31 | +2 | 72.5 | 68.0% | 1.11 |
| Aaron 'AZR' Ward |
33 - 32 | +1 | 75.2 | 72.0% | 1.09 |
The final standings for the StarLadder iLeague Invitational 2017 are as follows:
| 1. Renegades |
- $75,000 |
| 2. Virtus.pro |
- $35,000 |
3.  Hellraisers |
- $15,000 |
4.  Heroic |
- $10,000 |
5-6.  Spirit |
- $4,500 |
5-6.  Flash |
- $4,500 |
| 7-8. TyLoo |
- $3,000 |
7-8.  HAVU |
- $3,000 |
Renegades will look to carry this confidence and momentum into their next event, which is the iBUYPOWER Masters taking place from November 11-12 in Orange County, California for a prize pool of $100,000.
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