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Kinguin defeat Virtus.pro 2-0 (16-14 on Dust2 and 16-5 on Mirage) in an upset and EnVyUs take down Space Soldiers 2-1 (8-16 on Cache, 22-19 on Cobblestone, and 16-14 on Dust2) in the WESG 2016 World Finals semifinals.

The semifinals of the $1.5 million WESG 2016 World Finals in Changzhou, China saw Virtus.pro and Kinguin in one match-up and Space Soldiers and Envy in the other as all four teams locked horns for a leviathan $800,000 first place prize.

With VP and EnVyUs both having been billed as heavy favourites ahead of the tournament's commencement (ranked #6 and #11 on our rankings respectively), Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski and crew quickly found themselves on the back foot as Polish rivals and upstarts Kinguin edged out their map pick of Dust2 16-14.

rallen & co. of Kinguin took down Polish rivals VP in a semifinal stunner

Any chance of a classic Golden Five comeback was then quickly snuffed out as a Michał "⁠MICHU⁠" Müller and Mikołaj "⁠mouz⁠" Karolewski led effort on Virtus.pro's map pick of Mirage closed out the map 16-5 and relegated their elite Polish brethren to a 3-4th place finish (dependent on the third place decider later today).

WESG 2016 World FinalsBest of 3 KinguinMatchpage 2 0 15th January 2017 Virtus.pro 16Dust2 14 16Mirage 5

Kinguin	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Michał 'MICHU' MüllerMICHU	39 - 32	+7	93.7	1.34
Karol 'rallen' Rodowiczrallen	40 - 27	+13	78.2	1.32
Mikołaj 'mouz' Karolewskimouz	40 - 31	+9	80.5	1.20
Damian 'Furlan' KislowskiFurlan	30 - 32	-2	67.6	1.06
Grzegorz 'SZPERO' DziamałekSZPERO	38 - 30	+8	68.0	1.05

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	34 - 31	+3	73.5	1.13
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	31 - 37	-6	71.4	1.00
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	32 - 43	-11	84.1	0.94
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	29 - 38	-9	57.5	0.84
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	24 - 40	-16	52.5	0.64

The second semifinal also began in unexpected fashion as Ahmet "⁠paz⁠" Karahoca powered his team to a 16-8 victory on nV's map pick of Cache. The second map of Cobblestone then went the long mile with 9-6 halves being traded and two overtimes playing out; with Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub in fine form however, it was the French team who closed out the second map 22-19.

With the decider map being Dust2, Space Soldiers defended the first half with a 9-6 lead. EnVyUs then appeared to have the second pistolround in their hands, but Engin "⁠ngiN⁠" Kor picked up four quick pistol kills in a two-versus-four to give Space Soldiers the round.

However, solid defending from the French team inched them forward and Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer & co. eventually secured a 16-14 victory and moved into the grand finals.

WESG 2016 World FinalsBest of 3 EnvyMatchpage 2 1 15th January 2017 Space Soldiers 8Cache 16 22Cobblestone 19 16Dust2 14

Envy	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK-	74 - 69	+5	91.6	1.17
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	72 - 65	+7	72.6	1.08
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	71 - 72	-1	81.4	1.06
Christophe 'SIXER' XiaSIXER	54 - 60	-6	63.9	0.94
Vincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerHappy	51 - 68	-17	67.3	0.83

Space Soldiers	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşXANTARES	84 - 69	+15	97.0	1.32
Ahmet 'paz' Karahocapaz	82 - 61	+21	88.1	1.30
Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliMAJ3R	57 - 71	-14	74.6	0.97
Engin 'ngiN' KorngiN	55 - 58	-3	57.7	0.93
Çağatay 'DESPE' SedefDESPE	55 - 63	-8	64.1	0.92

stich writes for HLTV.org in a blue moon and can be found on Twitter