Vitality Sends The Outsiders Home Thanks To ZywOo

The European squad survived a trip to overtime on Dust2, the series’ second map, to remain unbeaten in Malta.

Vitality locked in a place in the ESL Pro League Season 16 semi-finals, edging out Outsiders 2-1 in what was their first time back in the server in over three weeks. The European combine got the better of the Russians on Mirage (16-13) before edging out their foes in an overtime affair on Dust2 (19-17).

Mathematics “ZywOo” Herbaut maintained his dominant position on the server with a stellar 1.37 rating and 56-32 K-D. On Friday at 19:00, the winner of G2 vs. Natus Vincere and Vitality will square off against one another.

Outsiders, on the other hand, leave the competition in 5-8th position after just just qualifying for the playoffs with a 3-2 record in Group B. The Russian team will return to competition soon after their trip to Malta because they will begin competing in the IEM Road to Rio Europe RMR on October 4.

The Match Recap

On Outsiders’ choice of Mirage, the tournament’s penultimate quarterfinal got began. However, Vitality made a solid start on the CT-side, helped by ZywOo, who added 16 kills to the scoreboard to give the European combination a 7-0 early lead. However, as the Russians progressively regained control of the economy and brought the map back to a more manageable 5-10 scoreline by the side swap, outsiders gradually started to regain their foothold.

Outsiders won the second pistol round of the map to start their comeback attempt, and they then went on a shooting rampage to go back to within one round, at 11-12. However, Vitality was able to keep their cool, stealing the 24th round with the help of a successful force buy to take the lead and reach match point, 15-11. In the end, Vitality did enough to win the map, 16-13, as a slow lurk up B short in the final round went undetected for the European mix to convert their 4vs3 lead. A brief two-round statement by the Russians kept them in the game.

With a commanding five-round streak of their own on the T-side, Vitality turned around an Outsiders pistol round victory with their selection of Dust2. As the map went on, the advantage held by the European mix began to diminish a little. Alexey “Qikert” Golubev threw his team on his back as they closed the gap to 4-7. After a back-and-forth second period, Vitality took a 9-6 lead thanks to two-round runs by both teams.

The ZywOo Effect

At the start of the second half, the Russian team repeatedly found the opening pick on offense, giving them the advantage and helping them to an 11-9 lead. The two-time greatest player in the world ZywOo stepped up significantly in the following rounds to get his side back on track, hitting 20 frags as his team tied the game at 13-13. In the 30th round of play, Outsiders successfully converted a 3vs3 post-plant on the A site to send the game into overtime. At this moment, the game resumed its spirited nature from the end of the first half.

Once there, Vitality narrowly prevailed, winning four rounds to Outsiders’ two to secure a 19-17 triumph. ZywOo once again played a key role for his team, adding four more frags to his total in the last round to help his team cross the finish line.

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