The three map affair had multiple overtimes and a 1v5 clutch.
Despite having donk winning a 1v5, and multiple disadvantaged situations, Spirit fell to Vitality in three maps. They had their chances on the 2nd and 3rd map, but will see no more stages before the upcoming Major.
Team Vitality faced Team Spirit in the quarter-final of BLAST Rivals Hong Kong. Both teams showed weakness, losing to FURIA and Falcons, respectively. It was zweih and tN1R’s debut against Vitality, and it was one to remember despite losing.
Spirit opted to go into Dust2, a move that worked out for them.
Vitality took the pistol on CT-side, as well as the following rounds to take an early lead. It took a while for Spirit to gain form as they lost a round to the clock.
Then, Spirit kicked it up a gear. They took 5 rounds in a row to take the lead of the map 6-5, thanks to extraordinary rifle play by donk and tN1R.
Sh1ro served effectively as a closer, however, Vitality stole the last round of the half to make it dead even.
Spirit edge it out on Dust2, come out swinging on Nuke
The second half was back and forth, and kicked off with a pistol win for Spirit. They proceeded to go on a run with sh1ro and tN1R proving indomitable.
When on their last legs, Vitality went on a run to force round 24 after repeatedly hitting the A-site. In the last round, Spirit cheated donk towards A, who got a 3k spraydown to close the map.
On Nuke, sh1ro continued his CT-side dominance with the AWP. Spirit got off to a hot start, but Vitality fought back. A critical 1v3 from flameZ turned the tides, as Vitality came alive as a team.
Despite a massive KD from sh1ro, the half ended 6-6.
Back and forth battle
Spirit took the pistol round, but Vitality responded back with mezii managing an incredible 3k hold on A-site with a FAMAS.
Spirit then had their own force buy that turned the game once again.
It was a saved AWP that closed the force buy wars, as ZywOo found kill after kill with it.
Vitality looked poised to take it, as zweih repeatedly gave up openings and chopper made mistakes to give Vitality winning positions.
A 1v5 for the history books
It looked over when mezii found a 3k spraydown on A, but chaos ensued. Donk kept Spirit alive by winning a 1v5 situation with a galil on A site.
Suddenly, the momentum of the match shifted. Spirit took it to overtime, with 3 kills from donk in the closer.
Donk vs ZywOo in overtime and Mirage
In overtime, it became anyone’s game. ZywOo did battle against sh1ro and donk who were taking turns with the multikills.
In the end, Vitality proved too strong on Nuke as they won rounds in the critical stages.
On Mirage, Vitality this time got to a hot start after winning the force buy war.
Donk was very much present in this game, as was his counterpart ZywOo.
Rounds were close and back-and-forth, and a crucial 3k from Spirit’s captain chopper gave Spirit a chance to tie the map.
On CT side, both teams had their moments, but it looked like Spirit were heating up at the crucial point as donk found multikills defending A.
Vitality fought right back with ZywOo getting unbelievable entries in middle, getting to match point.
Zweih pops off, but it’s not enough
Zweih was not the weak link of this Mirage map, that falling on tN1R this time. Zweih got a triple kill on A site against 4 people to deny the plant in a 3v5.
In overtime, Vitality kicked it up a gear, as if Round 24 never happened. They took 3 terrorist rounds in a row, and closed out the map.
They move on to face Falcons in the semi-final, their 13th in a single calendar year.
Match Statistics
Team Vitality vs Team Spirit – | BLAST Rivals Season 2
11-13 (Dust2) – donk | 1.32 rating
19-16 (Nuke) – ZywOo | 1.41 rating
16-13 (Mirage) –ZywOo | 1.62 rating
