Vitality triumphs after incredible reverse sweep

Vitality did the impossible by reverse sweeping one of the best teams in the world. The French side looked done and dusted after being crushed in two consecutive maps, but ZywOo and Vitality showed incredible character and came back winning 3-2 in a thriller of a match.

Vitality - NAVI 3-2

Nuke (9-16) s1mple 2.10 rating, 27-10 k/d, 128.6 ADR

Dust2 (12-16) s1mple 2.02 rating, 37-13 k/d, 121.5 ADR

Overpass (16-6) shox 1.75 rating, 22-13 k/d, 121.0 ADR

Inferno (16-9) Nivera 1.44 rating, 22-12 k/d, 85.8 ADR

Mirage (16-8) ZywOo 1.45 rating, 19-13 k/d, 86.4 ADR

NAVI began the match very strong, playing extremely well on their map pick of Nuke. Through a stellar T-side the where they time after time out-played Vitality, NAVI managed to set up a 10-5 half time lead. Something they continued into the second half by securing a quick 16-5 victory.

The second map might go down in history due to a monstrous individual performance by a certain Ukrainian. Because Dust2 was a complete s1mple show with NAVI’s superstar dominating the server from the very start of the map down to the end.

At the half, s1mple stood with a 2.73 rating, a 26-6 k/d and dealing out crazy 166.7 damage per round. He was playing immense Counter-Strike, and looking like a man who was in the process of making one of the best individual performance at Grand Final in recent history. He and NAVI locked down the map 16-12, seeming impossible to beat going into the third map.

Watch the incredible ace from s1mple.

As said, it looked like an impossible task for Vitality going into Overpass due to the complete NAVI dominance in the first two matches. But the French side did not surrender and led by the strong veteran shox, they managed to capture a vital 16-6 map win.

It looked like Vitality had punctured NAVI and their motivation with their impressive win on Overpass. The Russian team didn’t really put up a fight on Inferno, and with a potent substitute in Nivera, the Belgian and the rest of Vitality could ease past their opponent 16-9. Nivera brought in great impact on both Dust2 and Inferno and where he has been key for Vitality’s impressive IEM Beijing campaign.

At this moment, ZywOo hasn’t really shown up at this Grand Final as we hoped, with s1mple being the absolute highlight player. However, in the deciding map on Mirage, the French Prodigy turned into this dangerous and unstoppable force that he has been since his entry on the scene.

ZywOo 1v4 pistol in the first round of Mirage.

NAVI was down in the dumps and the Vitality took advantage of exactly that. Vitality secured a confident 10-5 halftime lead due to a strong T-side. And even though NAVI won the second pistol round and additionally two rounds, the reverse sweep looked inevitable. ZywOo and the rest of Vitality closed down the map 16-8 and concluded a fantastic achievement.