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One of the biggest tournaments of the winter in Counter-Strike 2 is getting ready for Long Run. We're talking about PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, where $1,200,000 will be awarded.
Fighting for a solid prize pool, and on top of that, Valve's global ranking points. The fun will start in the group stage with the Swiss Stage, and 3DMax and Vp are among the competitors.
We're trying to figure out who from the Vp - 3DMax pairing will earn their first win on the long road to the play-offs, and who will be 0-1 on the gridiron.
Let's go.
Vp Form
We open our breakdown of the Vp - 3DMax match with an analysis of Vp's match form. In this match they play as favourites with odds to win at around 1.6.
At the beginning of the year before last, Vp played in three TIR-A tournaments. These were BB Playlist. Urbanistic, BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR A, and also BB Playlist. Freeddom. At the two "home" championships from BB Vp were in the top 8, but at the European RMR everything was even less happy - top 14.
Then Vp made a breakthrough by winning at ESL Challenger Katowice 2023. The victory there allowed them to qualify for ESL Pro League Season 18.
Among the victories, CCT Online Finals #2 is also worth mentioning. They beat Team Spirit in the grand finals and earned $100,000, which is pretty good.
- Vp lineup: FL1T, fame, electroNic, FL4MUS, ICY.
Before ESL Pro League Season 18 Vp visited Gamers8, where they didn't get further than the top 8, and Dunav Party LAN, where in the grand finals they got revenge for their defeat on CCT by Spirit.
In the first match at EPL Season 18, Vp's opponent was Team Liquid. The match, as expected, ended in a full-fledged, combative Bo3 with Vp winning 2-1.
Next up, VP played G2 Esports and legitimately Ledgeili, though they fought back and took the map. The defeat sent Vp to the lower grid, where they first beat Eternal Fire and then outplayed Liquid again, thus reaching the EPL play-offs.
Vp did not manage to play in the main stage. Vp lost their first match against 9z Team, which was a rather unexpected result. At the end of the EPL S18 Vp finished in the top 16.
Things are going well at the Roobet Cup. Vp won the first match against their compatriots from Spirit with a score of 2-1. Next up was a battle with Movistar Riders to qualify for the Roobet Cup 2023 play-offs, which ended 2-0 in favour of Vp, a solid 2-0.
The Roobet Cup 2023 itself was the pulse of Vp's triumph. They beat Monte 2-1 in the grand final, earning their first major win in a long time. Later was Thunderpick World Championship 2023, where Vp also reached the final, but failed to beat FaZe and as a result - 0-2.
Before playing at BB Dacha Vp played at ESL Challenger Winter. There they reached the top 4, losing in the semi-finals to the future champions from Monte. BB Dacha itself was a very successful event for Vp: there they reached the finals and lost to Spirit 2-3 in a close series.
Just before the BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024, where Vp were partnered with BLAST, they played the ESL Challenger at DreamHack Atlanta 2023, where they won the championship, beating Apeks 2-0 in the grand finals.
On their way to the Group D finals, Virtus.pro defeated BIG and Cloud9. The former with a 2-0 score, the latter with a 2-1 score. In the grand final of their group at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024, Vp beat BIG again and again with a score of 2-0, thus earning themselves a place at the spring finals. Next up was IEM Katowice 2024, where Vp failed, finishing in the top 20.
Vp made it to PGL CS 2 Major Copenhagen, finishing in the top 2 at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European RMR A. In addition, they made it to IEM Dallas 2024.
Directly at the World Championship Long Competed from the Elimination stage. First lost to Imperia, but then beat paiN and Heroic, which brought them to 2-1. Next, they lost to Eternal Fire and G2 Esports, which led to Vp's elimination from the Major tournament.
IEM China 2024 Vp are doing quite well. In the top set of Group B, they took turns beating American teams Wildcard (13-1) and then FlyQuest (2-1). In the play-offs seeding match, Vp lost to the best team in the tournament, Astralis, 2-0.
In the main stage of IEM China 2024, Vp played against G2 Esports and lost, thus finishing in the top 6 of the tournament.
After the top 6 at IEM China 2024 Vp attended three more tournaments, two of which were very prestigious. Thus they played ESL Pro League Season 19 at TOP-8 and IEM Dallas 2024 at TOP-12, and in between they made it to the Top-6 at BB Dacha.
In Group B at BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2024 Vp played to a top-3 finish, which got them into the playoffs. Next, they made it to the top 4, but there Ledgeili NaVi.
EWC Vp started with a match against Complexity Gaming, where they won 2-0. Making it to the play-offs the team faced Vitality and came out stronger, winning 2-1. Next up was a match against G2, a loss and top 4 in the end.
Vp played at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024, where they failed miserably: top 16. Later, they "consolidated their success" at IEM Cologne 2024, making it to the Top 16. They also played at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024, where they took TOP-4. Played at ESL Pro League S20, where they failed everywhere and everywhere, finishing the tournament in the top 16. They also played at the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024, where they finished in the top 6.
At the Thunderpick World Championship 2024, OG Long Sogpeg were defeated by OG and then knocked out of the tournament by Falcons. However, OG went on to get revenge and knocked Vp out of the tournament. At the end of Thunderpick World Championship 2024, Vp finished in the top 12.
Vp made it to PW Shanghai Major 2024 through PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B, winning it 3-1. However, the tournament itself failed miserably, finishing in the top-24.
They started the 2025 season with a performance at BLAST Bounty Season 1, where they lost in the first round. Then - IEM Katowice 2025 and Long Corner at Play-In: loss from paiN with a crushing score (7-13) and (2-13), but comeback in the lower net and victory over sAw and MIBR. In the group stage, Vp played more collected, which led to a deserved result. After beating G2 and Eternal Fire, they got into the play-offs. However, they lacked a little bit to reach the semi-finals, namely the victory over Vitality. In the first round of the play-offs they ran into Spirit and lost 0-2, leaving the tournament at the TOP-8 stage.
Vp Mapple
The best map for Vp remains Ancient, where Vp won 3 maps out of 3 played. The most frequently played map is Overpass, where Vp played 11 maps and won 9 of them.
In the pool there is a good Anubis (3-1 on maps), Mirage (6 wins in 9 matches) and Inferno (7 wins in 11 games).
The worst choice for vp is Vertigo. It has 44% wins with 9 matches.
3DMax Form
We continue the 3DMax vs Vp match with the analysis of 3DMax form. In this match, they are playing as an outstation with win odds around 2.4.
3DMAX's record includes a performance at CCT West Europe Serie #3, which was the debut tournament for the Frenchmen. There they reached the top 3, which can be called a good Long Sogpeg.
Then there was a series of qualifying tournaments and local championships. Among those that can be noted is ESL Championnat National Spring 2023, which was the first tournament won for the French.
3DMAX's performance improved in the second half of the year. Among other things, they won the qualifiers for ESL Challenger at DreamHack Winter 2023: European Open Qualifier and ESL Challenger at DreamHack Winter 2023: European Qualifier. They also won the ESEA Cash Cup: Europe - Autumn 2023 #2.
- 3DMAX roster: Lucky, Djoko, Ex3rcice, Maka, Graviti.
The last event for 3DMAX was CCT East Europe Series #3. There we managed to reach TOP-2, but a little bit was not enough: 3DMAX took TOP-2, losing in the finals to 1WIN.
After 3DMAX played at ESL Challenger Winter 2023. They managed to get into the top 8, which is not a good result.
At ESL Challenger League Season 46: Europe 3DMAX shone. The Frenchmen went over the heads of their opponents very confidently, which eventually translated into a tournament victory with a convincing 3-0 win against forZe in the grand finals.
The 2024 season saw far fewer high-profile victories. 3DMAX finished top-11 at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European Qualifier, IEM China 2024: European Open Qualifier, top-4 at RES Western European Masters: Spring 2024, and top-12 at European RMR A.
Prior to the ESL Pro League Season 19, 3DMAX played at A1 Gaming League Season 8, where they finished in the Top 2.
At the ESL Pro League Season 19 3DMAX debuted as an outsider in a match against sAw, but showed class and won a tough series with extra rounds in each of the two maps. And then there was a match against Fnatic, where 3DMAX made a mini-sensation by beating the "orange" with a score of 2-0, and they beat them very confidently, giving 15 rounds in two maps.
At the ESL Pro League Season 19 3DMAX were quite confident in the play-offs of the championship. The only defeat in the group stage was from Astralis in the match for seeding for the play-offs. However, in the play-offs 3DMax song did not play long: defeat against G2 and TOP-12 in the end.
During the season 3DMax had other attempts to make a name for themselves at the Tier-S tournaments. For example, they played at the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2024, where they finished in the top-24, having been beaten 1-2 by Heroic. They tried their luck again at ESL Pro League Season 20, but this time the result was worse than at ESL Pro League S19 - TOP-20.
3DMax's performance was much better at lower ranked tournaments. For example, 3DMax were champions of YaLLa Compass Summer 2024 and ranked in the top 3 at Thunderpick World Championship 2024 and ESL Challenger League Season 48: Europe.
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B, 3DMax started with a win over TSM and then, somewhat surprisingly, beat Eternal Fire in a 2-0 basket match. Next up was a win over G2 Esports and a pass to the Elimination Stage.
At the PW Shanghai Major 2024: Elimination Stage 3DMax played to their level: 1-3 and final top-13.
At the Long Season 2025 3DMax took part in BLAST Bounty Season 1. However, they didn't have to play there for long: defeat by Heroic with the score 1-2 and the final TOP-32.
Next - IEM Katowice 2025 and Long Corner from the Play-In stage. In the Play-In 3DMax showed themselves very well: they defeated FlyQuest and MIBR with a score of 2-0 each. In the group stage, Long Corner were defeated against Vitality, which led them to the lower grid. Directly in the bottom set, 3DMax were outplayed by BIG. But they were prevented from advancing further by Eternal Fire, knocking 3DMax into the top 8 of the tournament.
3DMAX Mappool
3DMAX's top 1 map for the last 3 months is Mirage. L4O has a mind-blowing 92% winrate with 13 games played.
Played also on Inferno, where they won 5 matches out of 7 games. In plus winrate and Nuke, where with 5 matches and 3 wins.
The most not favoured card for 3DMAX would be Vertigo. There they have 6 maps and only 1 win.
History of head-to-head meetings 3DMax - Vp
Have not played against each other since 2023.
Predicted result of Vp vs 3DMax at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025
In this match I expect a pretty even game. In my opinion, Vp after the "shot" at IEM Katowice 2025 will not retain their ability to play at the competition and we will see what we saw during the last season. However, 3DMax don't look like a team that can easily outplay an opponent of Vp level.
Bottom line: total +2.5.
