The primarily French-Danish superteam secured their first big trophy in front of an arena crowd in IEM Rio on April 23, defeating Heroic 2-0 after a near-flawless run throughout the tournament, which included a memorable comeback against Cloud9 in the semi-finals. All eyes are now on the BLAST Major, with the stakes continuing to rise in CS:GO<\/em> esports.<\/p>
Vitality selected Vertigo for the series, the venue of their heroics against Cloud9 in the semifinal. This time, no miraculous comeback was needed to secure the victory, even if things did tighten up a bit in the end: the bees buzzed to a 7-1 lead and won the first half 8-7, then stabilized at a two-round deficit after losing the pistol round. The 9-11 scoreline was as good as things got for Heroic, who were only able to put up two more rounds as Vitality established a near-airtight defence, with Magisk topping the charts.<\/p>
ZywOo and Spinx were the two highest-performing players<\/a> during the tournament, and the team\u2019s cohesion and mental readiness has never been in better shape. That said, both teams should have positives to take away from this tournament as they head into the BLAST Paris Major, the final such competition to be played in CS:GO<\/em> esports before the transition to CS2<\/em> begins in earnest.<\/p>