Vitality destroy NiP 2-0
The French were on another level when facing NiP
Whilst the first games of the IEM Winter 2021 event were played in the Bo1-series format, we have now finally arrived at the Bo3-series with Vitality taking on the Ninjas in Pyjamas. Coming from an all-around stellar performance at the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2021 event, only narrowly losing to Natus Vincere in the Grand Final, it was a confident Vitality roster locking horns with NiP. The confidence of the French was clear to see, already from the beginning of the Bo3-series and a disjointed NiP roster had difficulty with containing “ZywOo” and his troops. In just two maps it was over – the French were seemingly too big of a mouthful for Danes and Swedes to handle. Claiming the victory on both Inferno and Mirage it was Vitality to prove the stronger roster today.
The first map was the choice of NiP and saw the Bo3-series start on Inferno. Whilst it is undoubtedly one of NiP’s strongest maps, and might even be their strongest, it is also a map that most of their opponents are highly familiar with – Vitality no exception. What didn’t help the case of NiP was the fact that they started on the T-side, a side that has notoriously caused them many difficulties in the past. This time was no different as the defense of Vitality proved too difficult for the Ninjas to break down. At the impressive scoreline of 12-3, it was Vitality to have full control over Inferno. The second half saw a more comfortable NiP roster trying to make the impossible happen. In the end, however, it was impossible for NiP and the French Vitality roster, led by an always impressive “ZywOo”, was able to close out Inferno at the scoreline of 16-6.
With their map pick, Vitality chose Mirage. With the T-side start and a pistol round win Vitality were dominating from the first whistle. Leading the squad both in calling and on the scoreboard was “apEX” who played a massive part in getting the Frenchmen off to a good start. Somewhat surprisingly NiP had a very hard time stringing rounds together as their opponents through all kinds of different plays against them, making the game very hard to read for “hampus” and co. Vitality comfortably went to the break with a lead of 11-4.
With only four rounds in the first half there was a long way to go for NiP, but as they won the first three rounds of their T-side, all of a sudden, the comeback looked doable. The Frenchmen were able to answer back and as the teams traded a couple of rounds back and forth Vitality reach match point at 15-9. NiP were left with only pistols at this point and were swiftly brushed off by the flourishing French squad.
With the victory, Vitality moves on to the Group A Upper Final, while the Ninjas are relegated to the lower semis.
Highlight of the BO3-series:
Vitality – NiP (2-0) | IEM Winter 2021
16-6 (Inferno) |
16-9 (Mirage) |
IEM Winter 2021 overview – Astralis vs MOUZ (2-0)
On the other stream, we had Astralis going up against MOUZ in a battle for survival at IEM Winter. MOUZ nearly took down a strong-looking Vitality earlier today, but they could not handle the heat from the hard-hitting Danes. MOUZ's map pick of Ancient had the Danes dominating on their CT-side as they took 13 of 15 rounds. The second map was a much closer one with a score that read 10-9 at one point before Astralis took off. This outcome sees Astralis move into the lower semis, while MOUZ are eliminated.
16-6 (Ancient) |
16-10 (Nuke) |
