We are less than one week away from the start of the last ever Major in CS:GO history. To ease the waiting time, we have created a countdown series, where we dive into the history of all 18 Majors. Today we have reached DreamHack Winter 2014.

 Cache, Cobblestone, Dust2, Inferno, Mirage, Train, Overpass.

DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 was the seventh CS:GO Major tournament in the history of the game and was held from October 28 – November 1, 2015 in the Polyvalent Hall venue in Cluj-Napoca Romania. Like the previous Majors, this one also featured a total of 16 teams and a total prize pool of $250,000.

The final Major of 2015 came to an end with Team EnVyUs claiming the title on Romanian soil. It was the first ever Major final to not feature either Ninjas in Pyjamas or fnatic. The Frenchmen from Team EnVyUs defeated Natus Vincere in the grand final and took home the $100,000 first place prize.

Results for Team EnVyUs weren’t satisfying for the organization in the period 2015, so they decided to release Richard “shox” Papillon and Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux to sign Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and Kenny “kennyS” Schrub from Titan.

It turned out to be a great roster move from the organization as the new roster went on to win IEM Season X – Gamescom right after the change was made. Additionally, NBK, Happy, kioShiMa, apEX, and kennyS reached the Grand final of the following Major in Cologne but lost to fnatic. Nevertheless, the rest of 2015 ended up being a success for the Frenchmen.

They became champions in two big tournaments (DreamHack Open London and Gfinity Champion of Champions) before winning the Major in Cluj-Napoca. There, the Frenchmen from EnVyUs had to defeat some really strong teams such as fnatic, Team Dignitas, G2, and NAVI on their path to the title.

apEX and company from EnVyUs started off their playoffs run with a 2-1 victory over the Swedes from fnatic in the Quarter-finals, eliminating them out of the tournament. Next up, Team EnVyUs would take upon their fellow countrymen from G2, who secured their semi-final spot with a 2-0 victory over Virtus.pro. In the other quarter-finals, TSM lost 0-2 to Ninjas in Pyjamas, while NAVI defeated Luminosity Gaming with a 2-0 result.

The first semi-final match of the Major began with a victory for G2, who took down kennyS and company on Dust2 with a 10-16 scoreline. EnVy came back on Inferno after three overtimes, closing out the map 25-21 to force the decider. The decider of Cache saw apEX’s troops confidently close out the map 16-7 to secure themselves a spot in the Grand final, where they would face off against NAVI who came out on top with a 2-0 victory over NiP in the second semi-final.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"Affiliation/SKINS_reklame_Pley_USP_akk94w","originalWidth":1920,"originalHeight":480,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg"}]

The Grand finalists were chosen and it was time to find out who would claim the title as Major champions. The first map of the series was Train, where NAVI started off miserably and found themselves behind 0-7 on the scoreboard. NAVI managed to pick themselves up and added six rounds of their own on the scoreboard, before EnVyUs went to halftime with a 9-6 advantage.

In the second half, NAVI finally found their footing and moved ahead to a 10-11 lead before kennyS and company answered back. The remaining rounds on the map were fiercely contested, with rounds going back and forth. However, it was EnVy who took the first map 16-14.

Cobblestone was EnVyUs’ map pick and the Frenchmen started things off strongly, cruising to a 7-0 lead with full momentum. In a similar fashion to Train, GuardiaN and company from NAVI woke up after being down 0-7 and fought to get five rounds on the scoreboard before halftime.

The second half ended up being even worse than the first for NAVI, as the Frenchmen went on to just bulldoze every attempt NAVI made to take either of the sites. A few rounds came close, but the sheer pressure of EnVy’s lineup proved to be great, and the Frenchmen managed to clinch the map 16-5 to claim the Major trophy. EnVyUs’ AWPer,

Highest rated players at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015:

1. {cflag:DK} Philip “aizy” Aistrup (Dignitas) – 1.55 Rating

2. {cflag:SK} Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs (NAVI) – 1.30 Rating 

3. {cflag:PL} Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski (Virtus.pro) – 1.29 Rating 

4. {cflag:FR} Kenny “kennyS” Schrub (EnVyUs) – 1.23 Rating 

5. {cflag:RU} Georgi “WorldEdit” Yaskin (FlipSid3) – 1.22 Rating 

6. {cflag:DK} Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen (TSM) – 1.18 Rating 

7. {cflag:BR} Marcelo “coldzera” David (Luminosity) – 1.18 Rating 

8. {cflag:NO} Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad (G2) – 1.16 Rating 

9. {cflag:BA} Nikola “NiKo” Kovac (MOUZ) – 1.16 Rating 

10. {cflag:SE} Robin “flusha” Rönnquist (fnatic) – 1.15 Rating

Tomorrow we take a look at the MLG Columbus 2016 Major.

kennyS

apEX

kioShiMa

NBK-

Envy

We are less than two weeks away from the start of the BLAST.tv Paris Major. To ease the waiting time, we have created a countdown series, where we dive into the history of all 18 Majors.

Winner: Ninjas in Pyjamas $100.00 (f0rest, Fifflaren, friberg, GeT_RiGhT, Xizt)

MVP: [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/friberg","isNewTab":true,"text":"Adam 'friberg' Friberg"}]

Map pool: Dust2, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Cache, Overpass, and Cobblestone

Big changes had happened before the start of ESL One Cologne 2014. The map pool of the tournament had seen a major overhaul with Train being removed, while Cache, Cobblestone, and Overpass were added. Overpass had only recently been introduced in the game, which gave way for some controversy before the start of the Major.

Once again Ninjas in Pyjamas was deemed one of the top favorites before the tournament. The Swedes had lost the Grand Final at a Major twice in a row, but with Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund back in shape, the expectations were sky-high for the Swedes. Next in line was the previous champions from Virtus.pro, while Dignitas, Natus Vincere, Titan, and Fnatic were in the group of potential outsiders for the trophy.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"Affiliation/SKINS_reklame_Pley_AWP_y5dwfh","originalWidth":1920,"originalHeight":480,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","url":"https://bit.ly/3CWWVHW","isNewTab":true}]

From the get-go, it was two French teams who stole the spotlight. Team LDLC smashed Group B and qualified in first place for the playoffs. Epsilon repeated the feat in Group A upsetting tournament favorites from Ninjas in Pyjamas. The French roster (fxy0, GMX, kioShiMa, Sf, shox) destroyed NIP 16-6 on Cobblestone to claim first place in the group. This raised the question about NIP's candidacy for the CSGO throne. The Swedes made it through their group and were now paired with the high-flying Cloud9 in the first round of the playoffs.

Fnatic narrowly edged out Natus Vincere, while Epsilon was put to rest by Dignitas (aizy, device, dupreeh, FeTiSh, Xyp9x). The reigning champions Virtus.pro were upset by Team LDLC, while all eyes were set on the last Quarter-Final. In an intense and dramatic match, Ninjas in Pyjamas fought the North Americans in a ferocious battle that ended 2-1 in the favor of the Swedes. 

Fnatic qualified for the Grand Final with a clear 2-0 win against Dignitas. Would it be another all-Swedish final? NIP once again lost the first map, after Team LDLC won on Inferno. But again NIP fought back and forced the match onto Cobblestone, where NIP edged out their opponents 16-14.  

The two Swedish rivals, Fnatic and Ninjas in Pyjamas were ready for their second encounter in a Major Grand Final. This time NIP started off by winning Fnatic's map pick, but then went on to lose Cache. Inferno was set as the decider. Adam 'friberg' Friberg cemented his nickname "King of Banana" with an incredible ace to revive the Ninjas from a poor start. The support player was later named MVP of the tournament. NIP won the title by defeating Fnatic 16-13 and could raise the trophy for the first and so far only time. Notable was the fact, that none of the five NIP players ended the tournament as one of the top 10 best rated players, which also told the story about a tournament filled with ups and downs for the Swedish roster.

Highest-rated players at ESL One Cologne 2014:

1. {cflag:US} Braxton 'swag' Pierce (iBUYPOWER) - 1.43

2. {cflag:FR} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/apex","isNewTab":false,"text":"Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire"}] (LDLC) - 1.38

3. {cflag:RU} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/dosia","isNewTab":true,"text":"Mikhail 'Dosia' Stolyarov"}] (Hellraisers) - 1.35

4. {cflag:FR} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/kioshima","isNewTab":true,"text":"Fabien 'kioShiMa' Fiey"}] (Epsilon) - 1.33

5. {cflag:FR} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/kennys","isNewTab":true,"text":"Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub"}] (Titan) - 1.28

6. {cflag:PL} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/snax","isNewTab":true,"text":"Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski"}] (Virtus.pro) - 1.27

7. {cflag:SE} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/flusha","isNewTab":true,"text":"Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist"}] (Fnatic) - 1.24

8. {cflag:UA} Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev (Natus Vincere) - 1.22

9. {cflag:FR} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/shox","isNewTab":true,"text":"Richard 'shox' Papillon"}] (Epsilon) - 1.21

10. {cflag:SE} [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/olofmeister","isNewTab":true,"text":"Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer Gustafsson"}] (Fnatic) - 1.19

Tomorrow we take a look at the DreamHack Winter 2014 tournament.

friberg

olofmeister

Snax

Dosia

shox

Fnatic

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Audric “JACKZ” Jug is currently helping out Vitality at ESL Pro League Season 17 due to the absence of the newly-become father Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen. Something the French stand-in has done to perfection so far with a strong individual performance yesterday against Grayhound. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"dupreeh-set-miss-esl-pro-league","isNewTab":true}]

There was also a lot of admiration and praise for JACKZ from his temporary captain Dan "apEX" Madesclaire when they spoke with ESL following their 2-0 victory over the Aussies. 

- He’s old like me, we are both 30. But he still has something to prove and I think he still has it...

- I don’t think JACKZ has been used in the right way in his previous teams with the way he plays. I think he’s a guy who can run first and a guy where you need to put nades around him. The good thing about him is that you know that he won’t stop pressing W.

Especially JACKZ’s aim is something that impresses apEX.

- It can be really good to have a player like him. And I mean it’s so funny… we have played together for three days and when you see him play it’s like he’s 15 years old with his aim. It’s crazy, apEX explains as he then starts to make fun of his own reaction time.

You can watch the desk segment with apEX and JACKZ down below. 

[youtube:oIPhJEM1EbY?feature=share&t=23172]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"media-jackz-heet-lineup","isNewTab":true}]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"vitality-takes-down-grayhound","isNewTab":true}]

JaCkz

Team Vitality

Get ready to dive into the world of one of the most passionate and emotional players in esports history – Dan “apEX” Madesclaire.

The story of Dan “apEX” Madesclaire is one of passion, emotion, and a lifelong dedication to Counter-Strike. Known as CS:GO’s most excitable entry fragger, he has become France’s last great in-game leader, inspiring and motivating his teams to victory through his boundless enthusiasm and unbridled love for the game.

Esports may seem like an unlikely avenue for powerful emotions, but it is precisely in the crucible of competition that raw passion can find its expression. While many esports players maintain a stoic professionalism or an endearing awkwardness, apEX is a different breed altogether.

From his earliest days on the Counter-Strike servers, apEX has always worn his heart on his sleeve, exuding an infectious energy that draws in viewers and teammates alike. Despite now being a seasoned veteran of the game, his emotional intensity remains a defining trait, fueling his ferocious drive to win.

It is this unwavering passion that has propelled apEX to the forefront of French CS:GO, making him a beloved and influential figure in the esports community. As an in-game leader, he has led his teams to countless victories, inspiring and motivating his teammates with his boundless enthusiasm and fearless approach.

For apEX, Counter-Strike isn’t just a game, it’s a way of life. His journey from wide-eyed newcomer to celebrated veteran is a testament to the power of passion, and a reminder that the most potent emotions can be found in the most unexpected places. Whether you’re a seasoned esports fan or a newcomer to the scene, the story of apEX is one that is sure to inspire and entertain.

The Unbridled Passion of Dan “apEX” Madesclaire: A Journey Through the life of CS:GO’s Most Emotional Player and France’s Last Great In-Game Leader on His Birthday

2023 will be an important year for Team Vitality. It is the second year of playing with an international roster, and it is also the year that France will host its very first CS:GO Major. Something that gives extra motivation for Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut.

- We are really focused on the Major in Paris. For apEX and me it will perhaps be the first and only Major in France and Paris. For us it’s really something special and everyone is really focused on that. We have had good talks, and we are going to work hard and try hard for this Major. And I think we will show a good face of Vitality.

In order for that to happen, the French/Danish/Israelian roster will need to find more consistency in their performances. The ESL Pro League win in October 2022 gave a glimpse of what the team can deliver on the server, but early exits at IEM Rio and BLAST World Finals also revealed cracks in the foundation of the team. So, what can we expect from Vitality in 2023?

- I don’t know what we can expect. But we are going to try hard, work hard, and do everything we can for any tournament. The year before was not bad I would say, but I think we expect more. We want to do more now.

While ZywOo played a fantastic last six months of 2022, the start of the year was filled with difficulties mainly connected with the fact, that the team had to get used to speaking English after the addition of the two Astralis players Emil "Magisk" Reif and Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen.

- It did affect me a bit. I am not someone who communicates a lot in the game, but in French, it is going to be instantly, but in English, it is going to take me a second or one second and a half (to communicate), but then I lose my timing. So sometimes it was really hard to do my thing and do a good job overall.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"blast-spring-group-preview-1","isNewTab":true}]

 Vitality ended up buying Lotan "Spinx" Giladi from ENCE in the summer break and switched out Kévin "misutaaa" Rabier. A change that instantly improved the communication on the team.

 - After Spinx joined we changed a lot of positions for everyone. Now everybody is really happy with what is going on in the map. He also brings communication. He used to speak English on ENCE, so we wasn’t surprised that he was better than us when he came. Spinx brings a lot for us and will help us to do better in the next six months.

The question remains if the Team Vitality roster can elevate their game in 2023. Here ZywOo again points at communication as a vital thing for the roster.

 - Communication is key in an international team. And great communication is going to be really hard. I think communication is going to be key for us to be a really good team in the future.

Team Vitality faces Astralis in the opening round of BLAST Spring Groups tomorrow in Copenhagen.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"s1mple-wins-hltvs-player-year","isNewTab":true}]

ZywOo

dupreeh

Magisk

Spinx

The expectations for the newly-created superstar team of Vitality were massive after the organization revealed their new French-Danish roster back in January 2022.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"official-vitality-sign-astralis-trio","isNewTab":true}]

With Dupreeh, Magisk, and Zonic jumping on the train that already included of ZywOo and the former Major winner apEX, the goals were clear: To be the best CS:GO team in the world – An achievement that the team weren’t remotely close to fulfilling in the previous year.

Vitality captain and in-game leader, Dan “apEX” Madesclaire has addressed his thoughts about the 2022 season on Twitter, being extremely honest about his own performance.

- 2022 has been one of the toughest years of my career. We were far from the result we wanted and the last 5 months individually have been dogshit. Hope 2023 will be much better, excited to go back to work in couple of days with the boys. Love you all for your support.

apEX | Stats in the last six months of 2022

0.91 Rating / 66.8 ADR / 0.81 K/D ratio / -301 K-D

So what better than getting the Vitality in-game leader signed up for a class on anger management with host Freya "Freya" Spiers from ESL?

You can see the hilarious sketch here, where Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen also plays a part.

[twitchClip:TransparentShinyOilKlappa--8gOOnRSZKIClbP7]

*Malding = The term “Malding” is the combination of the words “Mad” and “Balding.” The term is used as a meme or slang when someone who is balding gets angry, usually when they are playing a multiplayer game. 

What could have been a major catastrophe and an early exit for the superstars from Vitality, were avoided this Wednesday evening by Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and his troops through a confident 2-0 victory over Grayhound.

Going into the match, the number one team in the world had positioned themselves with their backs against the wall in a fierce elimination bracket after falling short against both Outsiders and GamerLegion respectively.'

[slugORMA:{"slug":"grayhound-after-upsetting-cloud9-fck-your-pickems","isNewTab":true}]

But today on the stage in the Riocentro arena, Vitality looked much more like the well-oiled machine which won them ESL Pro League last month. Especially a player like Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen stepped up to the plate, with the veteran presenting a dominant level in Vitality’s 16-6 first map victory on Inferno.

Grayhound, the Oceanic hope at IEM Rio, were a bit more competitive on the second map of Mirage where they managed to scrap up a bunch of round wins on CT-side and even more on the offensive side. However, in the end Vitality proved too strong for the underdogs and has therefore lost their shot to take up a place in the Legends Stage after losing 2-0 tonight.

Grayhound – Vitality 0-2 | IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage

6-16 (Inferno) | {cflag:DK} dupreeh – 1.63 Rating / 22-10 K-D / 101.1 ADR

12-16(Mirage) | {cflag:FR} ZywOo – 1.64 Rating / 29-17 K-D / 114.8 ADR

MVP: {cflag:FR} Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut – 1.56 Rating / 46-24 K-D / 102.9 ADR

Grayhound

Dan “apEX” Madesclaire received a new powerful weapon to his already strong arsenal when Vitality announced the signing of ENCE’s star rifler Lotan “Spinx” Giladi in mid-August. A signing that already looks to have improved the squad immensely.

Spinx and his impressive 2022-season have meant that the 22-year-old Israeli has been given unrestricted freedom on the server, apEX has explained in a [link:{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRQI0nFMlNs","isNewTab":true,"text":"34-minute-long video"}] on Vitality’s Youtube.

- Of course, Lotan [Spinx] is not the same player as Kevin [misutaaa], so there are quite a few positions that change. He also has to find his place in the team. I try to give him a lot of confidence and a free hand in everything. He can do what he wants. He is as free a ZywOo I would say, apEX said and continued:

- Changing a player is not the most complicated thing in CS, but all of us need to adapt. Because it’s not role for role, there are a lot of changes on a lot of maps. Position changes on CT and T, so it complicates things on a lot of maps.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"notable-cs-go-transfers-2022","isNewTab":true}]

“One of the best riflers in the world”

Spinx also features in the video, where he touches on his goals after signing with Vitality.

- My goal, in the long run, is to show everyone that I’m one of the best riflers in the world, playing for one of the best teams in the world. For now, you have this FaZe/NAVI era with only two teams. I want [Vitality] to be a part of these two teams. I want us to be the team that everyone is trying to beat, Spinx stated. 

The entire behind-the-scenes video can be seen right here.

You can also find our own interviews with apEX and Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen. Both our talks with the Vitality players also focus on Spinx and what his arrival has meant or will mean for the French squad. Check them out in the articles below. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"sitdown-with-apex-need-stable-top-5-team-no-matter","isNewTab":true}]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"dupreeh-fixed-90-positions-with-spinx-coming","isNewTab":true}]

Misutaaa

ENCE

Two days ago, Counter-Strike: Global-Offensive celebrated its 10th birthday wrapping up an entire decade of our beloved game. Many pro players, teams, tournament organizers and fans marked the anniversary and so do we here on Pley.

On the occasion, we’ve asked several Counter-Strike pros in the likes of Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, Nikola “NiKo” Kovac, Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and others about their best CS:GO memory. You can find all their answers in the video below.

And to everyone saying CS:GO is about to be replaced by Source 2 or anything... 

Twistzz

NiKo

We had the chance to sit down with the in-game leader of Vitality Dan "apEX" Madesclaire, who is currently preparing for their opening match against OG. 

Vitality hasn't been doing that well recently, which led the team to make a change. They said goodbye to the 19-year-old Kévin "misutaaa" Rabier, and instead, signed the star rifler from ENCE, Lotan "Spinx" Giladi. Even though apEX is talking highly about the young Frenchmen misutaa, the lack of communication was the reason why they needed to make changes in the roster with a new player, which ended up being Spinx. 

You can watch the entire interview with apEX below:

We often see a fistbump and shoutings when the players win a map or do great plays. It's not just about finding the best but always about the humans behind the hoists and highlights. Many esports players display calm professionalism, but a few are different.

Their emotions regularly sit outside the clothes, and perhaps no one fits that billing more than the French IGL Dan "apEX" Madesclaire. apEX has essentially grown up on a Counter-Strike server, but despite now being a veteran of the game, his emotional timbre is one of the few things about him that hasn’t changed very much.

To learn more about the emotional French In-game leader, you can watch the following video about Dan "apEX" Madesclaire.

[youtube:www.youtube.com/watch?v=GStYKSpYaKw&t=229s&ab_channel=theScoreesports]

NAVI returned to the top of CS:GO with an impressive tournament in Lisbon. A massive victory against FaZe ignited s1mple and the rest of the gang to perform like we saw last year. Perhaps a little unexpected for the NAVI side themselves, as s1mple said during a press conference before the tournament.

You can see the press conference, where s1mple also mentions the benching of Boombl4.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"s1mple-boombl4-did-many-stupid-mistakes","isNewTab":false}]

We also spoke with NiKo, who talked about his own role, and how the G2 roster is developing. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"niko-missing-confidence-im-still-looking-find-role-roster","isNewTab":true}]

OG did surprisingly well in the tournament, where the team even had to field a stand-in. In-game leader Nemanja "nexa" Isaković talked about the OG rebuild, and how the team had tried to sign both YEKINDAR and jks.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"nexa-tried-get-yekindar-jks-revealing-yekindars-buyout","isNewTab":true}]

One of the key stories of the whole event was the new in-game leader for NAVI, Denis "electroNic" Sharipov. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"b1ad3-electronic-he-can-become-greatest","isNewTab":true}]

Team Vitality made it all the way to the Grand Final, but in the end apEX and his men had to realize, that NAVI was on another level.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"apex-they-were-much-better-us","isNewTab":true}]

s1mple was delighted with the win, and also told, that he hoped, that Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev would repeat his stand-in role at the upcoming IEM Cologne.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"s1mple-about-sdy-he-is-ready-learn","isNewTab":true}]

s1mple

nexa

The Grand Final between Natus Vincere and Vitality showcased just how dangerous the NaVi beast can be once unleashed. A great performance from young "b1t" and "s1mple" playing up to his name meant a tough defeat for the French and Danish roster of Vitality. However, despite a long stint of bumpy performances from the star-studded roster of Vitality, they made it to the Grand Final after a phenomenal victory against G2 in the Semi-finals. 

We spoke with the passionate IGL of Vitality "apEX" and he put some words on their brawl against an in-form Natus Vincere opponent: 

When asked if there is anything to build upon after such a tough defeat, the passionate French IGL was positive about the future of Vitality: 

All in all a great performance from Vitality at BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022 concluded with a tough loss, but a loss that was difficult to do anything about if you ask "apEX". When playing against a NaVi on that kind of level there are no teams that can keep up: 

To hear more about what "apEX" had to say about the loss against Natus Vincere in the Grand Final, you can watch the entire exclusive interview down below: 

With Natus Vincere securing the first spot in tomorrow's Grand Final of the ongoing BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022 event, we are left with only one spot left. The last Grand Finalist is to be found between two big names as G2 and Vitality go head to head in an exciting Bo3-series. The winner of the Semi-final will earn the right to play against Natus Vincere tomorrow for a chance to become the champions of the event. On paper G2 were the slight favorites going into the Bo3-series, however, once the two rosters entered the server it was clear that very little separated the two. A close battle, that went all three maps concluded with Vitality as the victor. 

The first map of the Bo3-series took place on the iconic map of Dust 2 and was picked by the French and Danish roster of Vitality. Looking at the numbers it is apparent that both teams are more than capable of putting up a great performance on Dust 2 and a thriller was on the cards for the first map of the series. Already in the first half of Dust 2, it was a close affair. With little separating the two teams, G2 proved slightly more potent on their CT-side as the first half concluded at the scoreline of 9-6. The second half, however, saw a dangerously cohesive and strong defense from Vitality. With "ZywOo" performing like almost always does, the French and Danish combination proved too difficult for G2 to break down. At the scoreline of 16-13, it was Vitality to claim Dust 2 and secure an advantage going forward in the Bo3-series. 

The second map of the series was, of course, picked by G2 and saw the brawl continue on Inferno. Few teams have looked as dangerous as G2 on the Italian soil of Inferno as of late. Currently sitting on a 88% win rate on the map (8 maps) in the past three months, it seemed an impossible task for Vitality to close out the Semi-final in just two maps. Once Inferno got rolling it was clear which team was the better on the map. A stellar performance, led by headshot machine "JACKZ" saw G2 dominate Vitality and take home the victory at the scoreline of 16-8. 

The third and final map of the Bo3-series took place on Nuke. A map that is known for its tactical possibilities and seemed the perfect place for "apEX" and "Aleksib" to have their final showdown before a winner was found between the two rosters. A close battle from start to finish kicked off on Nuke as neither team gave their opponent an inch. A slow CT-sided half from Vitality meant an 8-7 lead at halftime for "NiKo" and his troops. Whilst Nuke is said to be a CT-sided map, Vitality seemed far more potent once they had switched to the offense on Nuke. A stellar performance from "ZywOo" catapulted Vitality into a lead in the late stages of the map. At the scoreline of 16-13 it was Vitality to finally close out the Bo3-series and celebrate as they look forward to a thriller of a Grand Final against Natus Vincere tomorrow. 

[twitchClip:GentleColorfulLouseWow-ohfadE7oX_iOFoU-]

Vitality - G2 2-1 | BLAST Premier Spring Finals - Lisbon (Semi-finals)

16-13 (Dust 2) | {cflag:FR} apEX - 1.48 Rating / 28-18 K-D / 90.8 ADR

8-16 (Inferno) | {cflag:FR} JACKZ - 1.50 Rating / 23-12 K-D / 85.2 ADR

16-13 (Nuke) | {cflag:FR} ZywOo - 1.35 Rating / 23-15 K-D / 81.3 ADR

: {cflag:FR} Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut - 1.21 Rating / 59-48 K-D / 77.4 ADR

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/ZywOo_m5kmca","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: StarLadder"}]

G2 Esports

Team Vitality secured a spot in the semi-final of BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022 after defeating ENCE 2-0 in the second quarter-final of the day. They will be facing G2 in the semi-final on Saturday at 20:00 (CET).

Starting the series with Vitality’s pick on Overpass, the French/Danish squad came out with firepower as they got the first eight rounds to get a big lead in the first half. It took some time before snappi’s troops found their footing on their opponents’ map pick, but eventually, they managed to string six rounds on the bounce. Unfortunately for them, Vitality took the last round, closing the half 9-6. In the second half, Vitality won their second pistol and converted five rounds to extend their lead 14-6. Once again, ENCE didn’t go down without a fight and got a four-round streak before Vitality closed out the first map with a fake on the B site.

Vitality kept the momentum and got an early 5-1 CT side lead on Nuke. ENCE was, however, able to turn things around with an eight-round streak to take the lead in the first half, 9-6. ENCE got their first pistol round of the game and went up 11-6. Vitality struck back and evened the game at 11-11. But then, ENCE got a couple of rounds up to match point. Down 12-15 and against the ropes, ZywOo's men came up big and alive to push for overtime. The game kept going back and forth, but when the scoreline read 18-17, ENCE tried their trademark upper-site rush. Vitality was ready, and they could book their place in the semi-final with a 19-17 win on Nuke.

Vitality - ENCE 2-0 | BLAST Premier Spring Final - Lisbon

16-10 (Overpass) | {cflag:FR} apEX - 1.44 Rating / 25-14 K-D / 93.5 ADR

19-17 (Nuke) | {cflag:DK} Dupreeh – 1.50 Rating / 33-21 K-D / 94.8 ADR

MVP: {cflag:FR} Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut – 1.41 Rating / 54-23 K-D / 90.7 ADR

Yesterday morning Valve announced a new update to CS:GO.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"new-cs-go-update-m4a1-s-magazine-size-reduced-ancient-reworked","isNewTab":true}]

Most notable were the changes made to Ancient and the adjustment of the magazine size of the M4A1-S riffle, which was reduced from 25 to 20.

In general, the reception from the community seems to be positive, which was also the case with Dan "apEX" Madesclaire, with whom we spoke after their match yesterday against paiN. You can see, what the Frenchman had to say about the match against paiN and the recent update in the video below.

Legends Stage was on the line when Vitality and forZe clashed in the first Bo3 of the 2-0 teams. The Danes and Frenchmen of Vitality came into the match as the heavy favorites, but against a forZe in top form, nothing was decided beforehand.

The action kicked off on Vitality's pick of Nuke, but they would soon come to regret that as forZe's CT side was a brick wall in the early stages of the map, despite Vitality finding many man-advantage situations. The French org. had a small resurgence towards the end of the half which netted them a total of six rounds before halftime.

Surprisingly, Vitality were not able to capitalize on the momentum they had, and a great offensive half from the Russians meant that forZe stole away Vitality’s map.

Just one map away from becoming Legends, forZe now had to get it done on their own turf. Dust2 was the map of choice for the Russians, but Vitality, who started on the CT side, took advantage of that. The lead man of the French/Danish mix “apEX” and his star AWP’er “ZywOo” smacked the forZe squad around for the first 15 rounds where they were able to secure 13.

As soon as forZe landed on the CT side, it was clear that they would not back down without a fight. The CIS squad went on an impressive run but were unsurprisingly not able to make overcome the massive round deficit they had at halftime.

The final and deciding map of the series was Mirage, and after winning the pistol round, Vitality put themselves in the driver’s seat with a 3-0 lead. This lead did not last very long as forZe armed with rifles, took control of the situation, and strung together six rounds. Vitality saw the string of six rounds and thought it looked good and went ahead and took one of their own to close out the half.

The second half continued in brutally close fashion, and after five nail-biting rounds forZe somehow found a way to equalize. The Russians now looked primed to make the upset happen, but “Magisk” had other ideas, and with some fantastic A holds, he and Vitality denied the forZe upset.

Vitality are the first team from Challengers Stage to qualify for Legends, while forZe with have another chance to do the same tomorrow.

Vitality - forZe 2-1 | PGL Major Antwerp Challengers Stage

12-16 (Nuke) | {cflag:FR} ZywOo - 1.32 Rating / 22-18 K-D / 87.2 ADR

16-9 (Dust2) | {cflag:FR} apEX - 1.32 Rating / 21-16 K-D / 96.6 ADR

16-12 (Mirage) | {cflag:DK} Magisk - 1.55 Rating / 25-16 K-D / 105.0 ADR

MVP: {cflag:FR} Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut - 1.25 Rating / 60-44 K-D / 73.5 ADR

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	7	22
Maps count	11	42

apEX

Player stats

Articles mentioning apEX

DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015: Team EnVyUs' path to Major glory

ESL One Cologne 2014: The redemption of the Ninjas

apEX praises experienced stand-in: He plays like he’s 15 years old

The story of apEX

ZywOo: Communication is going to be key for us to be a really good team in the future

“It has been dogshit”: apEX on his individual level in the last part of 2022

Video: apEX failing hard on anger management

Vitality even their score after eliminating Grayhound

apEX on new Vitality roles: Spinx can do whatever he wants on the server

“What is your favourite CS:GO memory?” Ft. Twistzz, NiKo, apEX and more

A sitdown with apEX: We need to be a stable top 5 team no matter what

Video: How apEX Became France's Last Great IGL

Watch all the best from Pley.gg's coverage of BLAST Premier Spring Finals in Lisbon

apEX: "They were much better than us"

Vitality to face NaVi in Grand Final!

Vitality eliminate ENCE and secure semi-finals spot at BLAST Premier Spring Final

apEX on new update: It is really good!

Vitality are through to Legends Stage!

apEX after beating Astralis: Nothing special

apEX: "It's a whole philosophy that has to change"

Follow Pley