B8 have pulled off the upset of Esports World Cup so far, taking down Vitality 2-1 to seal their spot in the playoffs.
The series was finely balanced across the first two maps, Vitality overcoming a steep deficit to claim the opener of Mirage before B8 did the same to clinch Inferno. The decider of Dust2 was a shock as Vitality were completely outclassed, ending the series with a whimper.
There is no doubt that Vitality were out of sorts, but B8 were also fantastic. The Ukrainian side decisively capitalized on individual errors from Vitality and read Dan "apEX" Madesclaire like a book throughout much of the series, completing a memorable upset to seal their playoff berth.
"We are very happy obviously, everyone, because we felt before the tournament we were in very good shape," Andrii "npl" Kukharskyi told Freya "Freya" Spiers on the broadcast after the match. "We had very good pracs, we even had one prac against Vitality on Dust2, which helped us a little bit."
Alarm bells are now ringing for Vitality, who couldn't make it past top-eight at IEM Cologne Major and have started their season with losses to the likes of Liquid and B8. With paternity leave looming for the likes of William "mezii" Merriman and apEX, the Vitality era seems to be teetering on the edge of oblivion.
B8 entered Mirage in the midst of seven straight losses on the map, but that fact was not apparent with the way they pushed Vitality all the way to the brink.
Superb play by Danylo "s1zzi" Vinnyk and Dmytro "esenthial" Tsvir guided B8 to a five-round T side before they continued their excellence into the defensive half, pushing B8 to an 11-7 lead.
Vitality righted the ship, however, overcoming some apparent tilt and avoiding esenthial with aplomb to win nine of the next 10 rounds, securing the map in OT.
It seemed Vitality had taken full control of the series early doors on Inferno as their defense made quick work of B8's T side, recovering from a lost pistol to cruise to a 9-3 lead with complete ease.
B8 flipped the script when they switched over to CT side, some excellent A anchoring by Artem "kensizor" Kapran and excellent utility usage in Banana leaving Vitality struggling to find an avenue of attack.
Mistakes began to creep in for Vitality, an apEX overpeek in a 4v3 and Robin "ropz" Kool whiffing a flank in a 2v2 the worst offenders, allowing B8 to cruise through to a map win and send the series to a decider.
Dust2 provided the real shock of the series, as Vitality were nowhere to be found on a map that has historically been so reliable for them. B8 outplayed them at every turn, reading Vitality's offense with ease and taking advantage of the Vitality individuals struggling to find the firepower that makes them so dangerous.
More highlights:
Danylo 's1zzi' VinnykPast 3 months
Vitality
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam
B8
Alexey 'alex666' Yarmoshchuk
Andrii 'npl' Kukharskyi
Artem 'kensizor' Kapran
Dmytro 'esenthial' Tsvir
Danylo 's1zzi' Vinnyk
Ivan 'maddened' Iordanidi
Freya 'Freya' SpiersPast 3 months
Robin 'ropz' KoolPast 3 months
Liquid
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Georgi 'Jorko' Mitev
Viktor 'flashie' Tamás Bea
Artem 'kensizor' KapranPast 3 months
Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePast 3 months
Dmytro 'esenthial' TsvirPast 3 months
Andrii 'npl' KukharskyiPast 3 months
William 'mezii' MerrimanPast 3 months