Again, Mathieu #ZywOo Herbaut led #Vitality in efficiency, improving on his performance from the day before with a 1.71 grade against #OG. Audric #Jackz Jug also showed up a 1.15 rating, demonstrating an outstanding individual level despite being removed from tier-one competition since leaving #G2 in August 2022.

Anubis was chosen by OG as a punishment selection for Vitality to begin the game. The only time Dan #apEX Madesclaire and crew used the map was in a defeat to G2 at the BLAST World Championship in December, going down 11-16. By winning a 1v2 clutch in the pistol round, ZywOo’s squad was able to escape a difficult position, and they made the most of it by quickly gaining a 6-1 advantage. As a result of Jackz’s second AWP, which was out of character for him, Vitality’s economy suffered after just one round of defeat. As a result, OG was able to close the 4-6 gap. The Majority-French squad cruised through the remainder of the half, finishing 10-5 ahead.

With a triple on his P250 and Vitality in the lead to finish the map, ZywOo proved to be the difference-maker in the pistol once more. After a subdued first half, replacement Jackz stepped up on offense with multiple entries and multi-kills to give his team a perfect T side. With a comfortable 16-5 victory, Vitality advanced the series to their preferred map, Vertigo.

Maciej #F1ku Miklas’ Deagle triple-kill helped OG win a second-round forcebuy and take an early 3-1 advantage. That was pretty much the best thing that could be said for the European combine, because Vitality wasted no time in tying the game 3-3 and then sprinted away to a 9-4 lead. For the apEX-led team, everyone contributed perfectly, and OG received no breaks during the opening round. Abdul #degster Gasanov stopped the rot by killing four with a well-timed flank and an AWP, and OG were able to recover by the end of the first half, 6-9. With 19 kills, the Russian AWPer had a fantastic half with seven more than any of his teammates combined.

Vitality maintained the lead despite the second half being a scrappy affair; this was made possible by the fact that they won a round with unarmored pistols at a score of 12-8. That round proved to be the deciding factor for the OG without a nexa as they were unable to rally and ultimately lost 9-16, dropping them to the lower group while Vitality secured their spot in the EPL finals.

Stay tuned!

With their qualification, Vitality will play in the Sunday upper bracket final against the victor of FaZe vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas. With the defeat, OG is now in the lower bracket and will compete against paiN.