Team Vitality has won its first Counter-Strike 2 tournament with the Blast Premier Fall Final. In the final, the lineup ended the winning streak of Faze Clan and dominated with 2:0 (13:3; 13:11).
“I’m speechless. I’ve only been on the team for two weeks,” said newcomer William “mezii” Merriman in an interview after the game. “That’s how it’s done at Vitality. It’s a good welcome after all.”
Faze had dominated in the new CS2 so far. The IEM Sydney, the Thunderpick World Championship and the CS Asia Championship all went to the international lineup, which was also considered a big favorite in the Fall Final.
Vitality lost Emil “Magisk” Reif before the tournament, who left the team after his contract expired. His replacement, the Briton mezii, who was signed by Fnatic, had never won a big tournament before.
Faze IGL karrigan disappointed
Both teams were only really challenged in the semifinals, but prevailed in tight series against Complexity and Cloud9 respectively. The hopes for a similarly exciting final were only partially fulfilled. Vitality won their own map choice clearly, but had to work hard on the second map against a determined Faze.
The Danish Faze announcer Finn “karrigan” Andersen showed visible disappointment over the loss in front of his home crowd. His teammate Robin “ropz” Kool, who had been considered the best CS2 player so far, could not prevent the defeat despite a good performance.
The MVP trophy went unsurprisingly to Vitality star player Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, who showed once again why he is one of the best players in the world. He was not the only one who impressed at the BLAST Fall Final 2023, however. Other notable players who shone brightly at the tournament include Complexity’s Valdemar “valde” Bjørn Vangså, NAVI’s Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, Cloud9’s Patrick “es3tag” Hansen and Heroic’s Casper “cadiaN” Møller .
