Vitality Take Down Cloud9 2-0 To Secure Semi Final Spot in BLAST Premier

The BLAST Premier: World Final 2023 CS2 tournament is well underway, and some of the best Counter Strike teams from throughout the globe are battling it out for a shot at the lion’s share of the whopping USD 1,000,000 prize pool that the event boasts.

Day 2 of the event saw Vitality taking down Cloud9 with a flawless 2-0 defeat rallying behind some incredible individual performances from the Vitality roster.

Map Veto

• Cloud9 removed Vertigo
• Vitality removed Ancient
• Cloud9 picked Anubis
• Vitality picked Inferno
• Cloud9 removed Nuke
• Vitality removed Overpass
• Mirage was left over

Game 1: Anubis (Pick: C9, Win: Vitality, Final Score: 13-11 )

Vitality got themselves a significant head start on the first map of the series with 4 consecutive round wins before their opposition could put up a single round on the board. However, they looked pretty shaky towards the latter part of the first half as Cloud9 managed to close the gap as the two teams headed into the second half of Anubis with a 7-5 score in favor of Vitality.

Vitality regained their momentum on the CT-side with a pistol round win and followed it up with a second win to force C9 into an eco. Vitality could secure a 10-5 lead before C9 retaliated with back-to-back round wins and almost managed to equalize but fell just short, resulting in a 13-11 victory for Vitality.

William “mezii” Merriman was the star of Game 1 with an impressive K/D of 21/13.

Game 2: Inferno (Pick: Vitality, Win: Vitality, Final Score: 13-8)

Cloud9 kicked off their CT-side with a pistol round win on Inferno, but failed to convert the following round as a force-buy from Vitality shut them down in their tracks. The rest of the half was primarily dominated by Vitality with some terrific individual performances as they managed to secure the half with a score of 9-3.

Vitality continued their domination with a pistol round win on the CT-side, but were shut down by a force buy from Cloud9, who capitalized on this opportunity to snatch several consecutive rounds from their opposition. A post-plant 1v4 clutch from Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy gave Cloud9 even more breathing room as they looked to equalize the score. Cloud9 could put up eight rounds on the board before Vitality closed out the game with a score of 13-8 in their favor.

Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut reigned at the top of the scoreboard with 20 kills and 8 deaths.