Vitality fends off C9
Despite the highly anticipated return of Axile, C9 faced difficulties against the sheer firepower of Vitality. The first map, Mirage, proved to be a smooth victory for Vitality, but on the second map, Inferno, they had to battle fiercely. ZywOo reaffirmed his capacity, as he pushed Vitality overline with a colossal 1.46 rating.
As the game began between the two superteams on Mirage, Vitality kickstarted their campaign with Zywoo securing a 3k in the pistol to retake the A bombsite in the 4v4 successfully. C9's loss after their decision to buy into the subsequent round proved to be a costly setback, witnessing Vitality's impressive streak of 5 consecutive rounds.C9 finally found their footing in the 6th round, taking advantage of an early pick on ZywOo that prompted Vitality to heavily stack the wrong bombsite. However, with their linchpin sh1ro struggling on the T side, C9 was restricted to 5 rounds as the first half came to an end.
As the game progressed into the second half, Vitality continued to assert their dominance, extending their lead to a formidable 14-5, seemingly poised for a swift map victory. However, the tides turned when sh1ro, who faced difficulties in the initial half, gallantly rose to the occasion on the CT side. He put up a commendable 1.82 rating on the CT side, as C9 narrowed the gap to 14-10. Yet, in the end, it was flameZ who spearheaded C9's defensive efforts, securing two crucial opening kills that thrust Vitality to a resounding 16-11 victory.
In contrast to Mirage, sh1ro wasted no time in stretching his legs on the T side of Inferno. He kickstarted Inferno with a crisp 3k, providing a seamless start for his team. This early surge enabled C9 to gain a 4-0 advantage before Vitality stepped up their defensive game. They fought back with 5 rounds of their own. Despite a couple of unsuccessful mid-to-B attempts by C9, their direct B site hits allowed them to hold a slight advantage of 8-7 at the half.
With a slight difference of just one round, the second half grew intense. It spiraled into a back-and-forth affair, with both sides winning rounds in turns. However, with apEX taking huge strides on the T-side and Zywoo leading the fragging department, it was Vitality who surged ahead taking a lead of 14-11. In a remarkable turn of events, it was C9 who overtook them and managed to get matchpoint first, but Vitality managed to finish a B execute with a low buy to push the game to overtime.
Even in the overtime rounds, B remained the focal point, as Vitality consistently opted for B site pushes during their T rounds, securing two crucial rounds in the process. The two rounds proved to be enough, as Vitality emerged triumphant with a hard-fought 19-17 victory.
VitalityCloud9| Vitality |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut |
56 - 35 | +21 | 89.5 | 82.5% | 1.46 |
 Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan |
41 - 45 | -4 | 82.8 | 74.6% | 1.11 |
| Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire |
44 - 42 | +2 | 77.8 | 76.2% | 1.11 |
| Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi |
45 - 34 | +11 | 66.9 | 79.4% | 1.08 |
 Emil 'Magisk' Reif |
35 - 41 | -6 | 62.8 | 71.4% | 0.96 |
| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov |
49 - 41 | +8 | 73.8 | 73.0% | 1.15 |
| Ilya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy |
37 - 39 | -2 | 78.4 | 77.8% | 1.05 |
| Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov |
43 - 43 | +0 | 73.3 | 66.7% | 0.99 |
 Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov |
36 - 47 | -11 | 71.5 | 68.3% | 0.88 |
| Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov |
32 - 52 | -20 | 58.5 | 61.9% | 0.74 |
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