Vitality are through to the upper bracket final of StarSeries Fall, where they will face Aurora for a spot in the grand final, after decimating FURIA in a two-map series (13-8 Mirage, 13-5 Dust2).
It was a statement win for Dan "apEX" Madesclaire's side, who are on a mission to return to their winning form after enduring a deflated start to the Fall season and being hampered by playing with a stand-in at BLAST Porto.
Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut looked back to his best as he made the difference on Mirage, but it wasn't just the French superstar that stood out. Vitality's cohesion looked renewed, and apEX's form continued to trend upward as he topped the board on Dust2 to seal victory.
Vitality had a slow start to Mirage, finding themselves staring down a 1-5 deficit after losing a few close rounds to a push-and-pull offense. But that also became FURIA's undoing, a seemingly won round going wayward after Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo ran the bomb into William "mezii" Merriman on B while his teammates were on A in a 3v2.
That opened the door for a Vitality comeback, spearheaded by a nigh-unstoppable ZywOo. The French phenom turned the screws with five openers in the first half and mustered 15 kills by the break, including a combat-AWP triple that stomped out any chance for FURIA to gain momentum.
Another triple in the pistol, combined with a 1v2 from Robin "ropz" Kool, was immediately followed by ZywOo bailing Vitality out of trouble with a masterclass 1v3 clutch, and another triple to set his team on double digits. His counterpart, Danil "molodoy" Golubenko, had a poor map, and Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato's efforts were only enough for FURIA to make the scoreline look more competitive before Vitality sealed the victory.
Vitality's stomping ground of Dust2 remained so, with ZywOo taking more of a backseat after an early quad-kill to recover a 3v5 against pistols. It was instead apEX — with help from Shahar "flameZ" Shushan — who ran rampant over FURIA's defenses, bagging multis early and doubles late as Vitality ran ahead 7-5 at the break.
Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis had given his team a fighting chance with some pivotal multis in the first half, but there was simply nothing that FURIA could do after the swap as apEX continued to steamroll, with mezii closing out the series with a 1v2 clutch.
Danil 'molodoy' GolubenkoPast 3 months
Aurora
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Özgür 'woxic' Eker
Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski
Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın
Ashley 'ash' Battye
Shahar 'flameZ' ShushanPast 3 months
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautPast 3 months
Vitality
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam
Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoPast 3 months
FURIA
Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo
Yuri 'yuurih' Santos
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Sid 'sidde' Macedo
Robin 'ropz' KoolPast 3 months
Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePast 3 months
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisPast 3 months
William 'mezii' MerrimanPast 3 months
Kaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoPast 3 months