Vitality are through to the grand final of ESL Pro League 24 following a come-from-behind victory against Aurora, who burned bright on the opening map of Anubis thanks to a great performance from Özgür "woxic" Eker but couldn't play with the same intensity in the rest of the series.
Vitality's victory was anchored by a standout performance from star player Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, who bounced back from a quiet first map to post a series-high 1.44 rating, driven largely by a 2.36 rating on Cache, his highest ever on the map.
Vitality will contest the final against the winner of Spirit vs. MOUZ. It will be the chance for the three-time Major champions to win their second trophy of the season before Dan "apEX" Madesclaire temporarily steps down from the roster for PGL Masters Bucharest.
Neither team could pull away in the first half of Anubis, trading three-round streaks. Vitality twice appeared on course for a sizeable lead, only for Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş and woxic to halt the momentum with big individual plays.
Heading into the second half, Ashley "ash" Battye hailed his players' reaction to Vitality's early aggression. "We played really, really, really well. I'm very happy with how we played. Very, very impressed," the British coach said, asking them to keep it up in the second half.
Aurora's players followed the coach's instructions and took control of the game from the initial exchanges. A lapse in communication cost them an important round against a shoddy buy, but they remained composed and put the game to rest, with woxic posting a jaw-dropping 3.13 CT rating.
The Turkish AWPer lacked the same bite on Cache as Aurora could only muster four rounds on defense despite a stellar showing from XANTARES (15-6 K/D, 130 ADR and 2.31 rating).
Aurora kept their comeback hopes alive by turning around a 2v4 in the pistol and adding two more rounds to cut the deficit to one. However, Vitality surged once their economy recovered and went on a 5-0 run to close out the map and force a decider.
Vitality carried that momentum into Mirage, strolling to a 7-1 lead before Aurora hit back with three in a row, making great use of a double AWP setup. Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski's troops put together a streak of rounds while up against series point, but their comeback attempt was thwarted by a triple kill from ZywOo in the 21st round.
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşPast 3 months
Spirit
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov
Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev
Andrey 'tN1R' Tatarinovich
Myroslav 'zont1x' Plakhotia
Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets
Sergey 'hally' Shavaev
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautPast 3 months
MOUZ
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
Vitality
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam
Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePast 3 months
Damjan 'kyxsan' StoilkovskiPast 3 months
Aurora
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Özgür 'woxic' Eker
Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski
Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın
Ashley 'ash' Battye
Özgür 'woxic' EkerPast 3 months
Ashley 'ash' Battye