9Pandas unexpectedly and confidently defeated Virtus.pro in the qualifiers for The International with a score of 2-0. This match also featured a personal storyline – the clash between Sayush and Antares.
9Pandas and VP Swapped Support Players
Sayush was removed from Virtus.pro back in April. Prior to his departure, the team had suffered a disappointing loss of their spot at DreamLeague 23 after being eliminated by NAVI in the qualifiers, and they also underperformed at the Elite League. Notably, before Sayush was kicked out, Virtus.pro had already secured a place at the PGL Wallachia tournament, which they earned with Sayush's help.
The reason for Oleg's (Sayush's) dismissal was unclear. Nikolay Petrosyan, CEO of Virtus.pro, did not provide specifics and issued a vague statement about the need for changes. There were no comments from other players, and Sayush himself only remarked, "Well, they replaced me, so be it. It's disappointing that it happened right before the LAN event and I won't be able to go to Bucharest. But I hope the guys do well and achieve good results, or maybe not, in any case, I wish them luck! I plan to keep playing, as there's the Riyadh Masters in a month. I hope to find a team and qualify."
Antares, who had left 9Pandas a month earlier, took his place. Just two weeks later, Sayush joined 9Pandas, replacing Vladislav. It was a direct swap of positions.
The Clash of VP and 9Pandas
Interestingly, after the player exchange, VP and 9Pandas did not face each other. 9Pandas did not make it to the closed qualifiers for Riyadh, and Solo's team was not invited to the FISSURE Universe tournament.
Their first encounter came in the qualifiers for The International – VP with Antares against 9Pandas with Sayush. What a showdown!
Sayush Shines – VP Struggles to Keep Up
In the first game, Sayush played brilliantly on Weaver. He dominated the hard lane, built a Vessel against Treant, and consistently saved his team from Overgrowth with his Lotus. In contrast, Antares, playing Rubick, lost his lane and didn't contribute much on the map – there weren't many useful spells to steal.
VP's team play seemed chaotic. For example, consider this messy fight:
Treant rushes out of the trees and dies first, Pangolier and Lifestealer jump on Weaver, who quickly escapes in invisibility, Sqwaddix gets blown up in moments and uses his ultimate on Centaur instead of Templar Assassin or Windranger. Meanwhile, Antares helplessly fires off Power Shots. This disorganization persisted fight after fight.
At the end of the game, the statistics were telling:
- Sayush – 5/0/16.
- Antares – 0/8/4.
After the match, a pleased Sayush highlighted his lack of deaths, saying: "On the first map, both Solo and I had zero deaths. That's the old school at work 💪🏻💪🏻."
In the second game, Antares picked Barathrum first, while Sayush got the popular Mireska (Dark Willow). VP's situation didn't improve: they lost all three lanes and played passively on the map, losing the pace entirely.
VP likely hoped that Barathrum and Pangolier would control the map, but that plan failed. In ten minutes, Antares participated in only one kill. Meanwhile, Sayush, on the less mobile Dark Willow, secured six kills.
The story repeated itself: 9Pandas constantly played on the offensive, while VP struggled to defend. When Darklord on Gyrocopter was fully geared, the match ended predictably with a 9Pandas victory.