Back to Back comebacks for Vitality sets them up with a top four.
Liquid and Vitality battled each other in the final game of the Group stage at the BLAST Premier Fall Finals. With a semi-final berth on the line, both squads were giving it their all. But Vitality has been the benchmark of the CS scene alongside NAVI recently, and the team managed to pull out back-to-back comebacks to defeat their NA rivals 2-0.
BLAST Premier Fall Finals Match Recap - Vitality vs Liquid
Vitality vs Liquid - Fall Finals Rosters
Vitality | Liquid |
|---|---|
| Dan "apEX" Madesclaire | Keith "NAF" Markovic |
| Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut | Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis |
| Lotan "Spinx" Giladi | Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken |
| Shahar "flameZ" Shushan | Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak |
| William "mezii" Merriman | Justin "jks" Savage |
| Rémy "XTQZZZ" Quoniam (C) | Torbjørn "mithR" Nyborg (C) |
Map 1 - Anubis - Vitality clutch out an Overtime win
The series started with 5 rounds of back-and-forth as the two teams wrestled for economic control. ZywOo's early multi-kills were keeping Vitality in the lead, but Liquid was able to stabilize and take a 7-5 lead at halftime. Vitality started the second half in control, accelerating to double digits quickly. Ultimate, in particular, was struggling to hold down mid, as the Spinx-ZywOo duo found success.
NAF finally broke the streak with a key quad kill to turn the tides for Liquid. That prompted the NA side to put together a run of their own all the way to match point. Unfortunately, they weren't able to close the map and Vitality pushed it to Overtime. Overtime saw Vitality turn up the heat massively as flameZ joined his teammates in a dominant showing to close the map out 16-12.
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Map 2 - Nuke - Vitality deny a third map
Liquid started with another pistol win on Nuke. But in the first gun round, Liquid completely lost the plot. The apEX-led site battled for ramp control and found their way onto an empty B-site to take an easy win. But that was one of the rare errors from that Liquid CT side. Everyone, bar YEKINDAR, was performing well and Liquid took a massive 9-3 lead.
A pistol round extended that advantage even further. But after that it was all turning up in the favor of Vitality. A dominant CT side in its own right, Liquid had very little bite to their attack with YEKINDAR's ongoing struggles (and health issues in Copenhagen). The only other round they could muster was an eco-steal, before Vitality closed the map out 13-11.
Vitality now moves on to the Semi-Finals at the BLAST Premier Fall Finals. Meanwhile for Liquid, this loss sets them up in the Quarter-Finals against FaZe. FaZe has been a team struggling for success, and are a solid way for Liquid to prove that they are the new top team on the block. apEX's troops will await the winner of G2 vs Spirit, setting up a classic series.
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