The Poles in Virtus.pro have always put up strong resistance against the Swedish giants in Fnatic, but it's been exactly 73 days (on Feb. 9) since the two teams have faced off. This makes their set the Hot Match in Week 1 of the ESL Pro League Season 3.

The last time these two giants tested each other was during the semifinals of the FACEIT 2015 Stage 3 Finals, on Nov. 28. VP took the opening game on Mirage 16-11, but Fnatic closed the series after taking Inferno and Cache.

Virtus.pro's Filip "NEO" Kubski patting Fnatic's Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer on the back, after their loss against them during the FACEIT 2015 Stage 3 Finals at DreamHack Open Winter 2015

Fnatic went on to win the FACEIT 2015 Stage 3 Finals over Luminosity Gaming, and from there to win ESL Pro League Season 2 and the SL i-League StarSeries Finals: Minsk, both over Natus Vincere. The Swedes have looked dominant in the winter season, and they're poised to be the favorites of the event, but VP simply can't be counted out.

They ended up going 1-1 against each other during the Europe League of FACEIT 2015 Stage 3, but during the previous season of ESL Pro League Europe, Fnatic went 2-0 over VP. In both matches, VP forced an overtime.

Going even further back to PGL's CS:GO Championship Series Season 1, this time it was VP who took the better of the series after sweeping Fnatic during the Loser's Finals of the playoffs; they took both Train and Dust II 16-12.

Based on ESL's online polls, Fnatic are a strong favorite in the minds of the community, with 71 percent of votes on the first map and 83 percent on the second. But the games should be closer than the votes belie.