Team Vitality secure Grand final spot at IEM Winter

apEX’s men from Vitality are through to the Grand final of IEM Winter after besting Virtus.pro 2-0 in the semi-final on Mirage (16-13) and Vertigo (16-13). Next up, the Frenchmen will be taking upon either G2 or Ninjas in Pyjamas on Sunday at 16:00 (CET) in a matchup where they’ll be looking to claim the title as champions after finishing as runner-ups of BLAST Premier Fall Final.

The semi-final matchup kicked off on Vitality’s map pick of Mirage, where the Frenchmen delivered a huge comeback in the end to draw the first blood to the series. Starting on the CT-side, Virtus.pro grabbed eight rounds in total before halftime and looked as favorites to take the map after winning the first five rounds of the second half to go up 7-13 on the scoreboard. However, apEX’s men kept the faith and turned around the game completely as they went on to shut down Virtus.pro nine rounds in a row to complete the comeback 16-13 and take their map pick. Vitality’s misutaaa delivered 28 frags and a 1.33 Rating to help his team secure the first map.

Vitality closed out the series 2-0 after winning a very close game on Vertigo with another 16-13 result. In the dying stages of the game, shox and ZywOo turned around a crucial 2v5 situation to hit match point at 15-13 which ended up making the difference as it resulted in a crushed economy for YEKINDAR and company. misutaaa once again finished on top of the scoreboard with a massive 31-18 K/D this time, but it’s worth also mentioning shox who stepped up with some crucial clutches to push his team to victory and end Virtus.pro's unbeaten run at the event.

Mirage: 16-13 |

misutaaa – 1.33 Rating / 28-17 K-D / 86.6 ADR

misutaaa – 1.67 Rating / 31-18 K-D / 117.8 ADR

MVP:

Kevin “misutaaa” Rabier – 1.49 Rating / 59-35 K-D / 102.2 ADR / 75.9% KAST