Vitality power through Cloud9 in playoff opener
There was a point when Cloud9 looked like they might stand a chance against a fully healthy Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, but it was a fleeting moment before the Frenchman reminded the world exactly what he was capable of. Vitality, led by the world's best player and France's most extroverted IGL, are now in the semifinals of the first Counter-Strike 2 Major here in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Vitality chose to start the battle on Inferno, where things quickly started to look worse for the side after an arguably weak CT-side. Cloud9 went up 6-3 on their T-side, but Vitality was able to battle back and tie things up.
With six rounds on the board for the Russian squad as they went into their CT-side, it looked as though Vitality had the odds stacked against them. Well, thanks to an eco-round win and some clean kills, not only did Vitality push through that disadvantage, but secured the map 13-8.
Anubis, a surprising pick by the Russians, went horribly wrong as Vitality showed their T-side prowess and secured an astonishing ten rounds on their T-side. With Cloud9 already down a map, a deficit like this was simply too much. All the French organization had to do was sweep up on their CT-side to secure the map 13-2 and win the series 2-0.
Vitality, the first team to enter the semifinals of the Counter-Strike 2 Major in Copenhagen, will find out later tonight whether they will face Spirit or FaZe in the finals.
Cloud9Vitality| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov |
22 - 26 | -4 | 79.9 | 69.4% | 1.00 |
| Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov |
23 - 25 | -2 | 71.7 | 75.0% | 0.92 |
 Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov |
16 - 22 | -6 | 60.3 | 77.8% | 0.79 |
| Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov |
18 - 28 | -10 | 43.1 | 58.3% | 0.69 |
| Ilya 'Perfecto' Zalutskiy |
14 - 20 | -6 | 48.5 | 72.2% | 0.60 |
| Vitality |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan |
35 - 19 | +16 | 105.2 | 80.6% | 1.59 |
 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut |
26 - 15 | +11 | 62.2 | 88.9% | 1.24 |
| Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi |
23 - 19 | +4 | 72.0 | 75.0% | 1.15 |
 William 'mezii' Merriman |
20 - 18 | +2 | 62.7 | 80.6% | 1.10 |
| Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire |
17 - 22 | -5 | 64.6 | 77.8% | 0.97 |
