OG and Team Vitality had a very competitive series in the IEM Summer semifinals. Finally, OG emerged victorious, but the series was full of exciting plays and a very high skill display from both teams.
The IEM Summer 2021 tournament is down to its last four teams and OG and Vitality faced each other in the semifinals. Vitality had a dominant showing yesterday against Virtus.Pro, a series where the CIS squad managed a grand total of 15 rounds across two maps.
The semifinals was a knockout match with the winner advancing to the grand finals of the $250,000 tournament. The IEM summer 2021 winner receives $100,000 in prize money along with some ESL Pro Tour points.
A competitive start on Dust 2
Vitality picked Dust 2 as the first map. It made sense paper as the French players are extremely high-skilled and the open nature of the map should play to their advantage. OG started strong, winning the first few rounds, but the French team bounced back as they broke through the defense economy.
Jayson "Kyojin" Nguyen Van had a commendable performance on Dust 2, but it was Dan "apEX" Madesclaire who led Vitality to victory. After Apex, Richard "shox" Papillon had the most kills on the team. The match extremely close with either team winning a bunch of rounds before losing a few. Ultimately, OG pulled ahead in overtime to secure a 1-0 lead over Vitality.
Vitality crush OG on Mirage
Dust 2 was relatively close and it could have gone either way, despite being Vitality's map pick. Mirage looked to go in a similar fashion as the score was 8-7 in favor of OG after the first half. However, OG did not find any success on the T-side, barely squeezing through 2 rounds to secure a grand total of 9. Vitality's movement across the map and their read on OG's strategy was instrumental in their understanding of the game.
It was not only the sheer skill level on the Vitality squad that allowed them to dominate OG on Mirage. It was also Vitality's understanding of OG's strategy and movement across the map that allowed them to bring the momentum back in their favor. Vitality won Mirage with a 16-9 score to tie series at 1-1.
Where's Vitality's T-side on Overpass? Still searching...
Similar to the other two maps, the first half was yet again, an extremely competitive one. Vitality and OG were neck-to-beck with an 8-7 score in favor of OG. The star of the first two maps, Kévin "misutaaa" Rabier was instrumental in Vitality's perforamnce on the first half.
But Vitality simply did not have the strategical advantage on their T-side. OG's read of Vitality's performance and movements was spot on. The team would often counter Vitality's movement across the map with adequate efficient usage and rotations. The rounds were often close, despite Vitality only managing three rounds on the T-side. Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut and co. would often get the bomb-plant, but OG's post-plant retakes were spot on. The synergy between players arriving from different parts of the map allowed them to constantly confuse and overwhelm the French players.
With this win OG now move on to the grand finals of the IEM Summer 2021 tournament. The team's performance has only improved with time and they are a real threat to win the $250,000 tournament.
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Featured Image Credit: OG Twitter.