Vitality, Valiance finalize Europe Minor team list

Vitality and Valiance have secured the last two spots at the Europe Minor after defeating Kinguin and Fragsters, respectively,

Starting out as Terrorists on their map pick, Overpass, Vitality easily bagged the first two rounds of the match before Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut pulled off a quad-kill to help his team win the first gun round.

It was only when they were down 0-7 that Kinguin began to tighten up their defence, but Vitality remained in charge of the map, eventually closing it out 16-5 to take the lead in the series, with ZywOo topping the scoreboard with 28 kills.

Next up was Nuke, where Vitality picked up a 3-0 lead on the back of two 1v2 clutches from Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire, one in the pistol and another in the first gun round. Kinguin responded well, however, and lost just three more rounds while playing as Terrorists to take a 9-6 lead.

In the second half, Vitality levelled up the score at 10-10 before Kinguin were able to win a pair of rounds. Two rounds later, ZywOo, with a great 1v3 clutch, equalized the score again, but Vitality's efforts were in vain, as Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas’s men kept their composure, taking the series to a third map with a hard-fought 16-14 victory.

The decider, Mirage, saw Kinguin pick up a 5-1 lead as Terrorists to take control of proceedings. However, with a 1v3 clutch from Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy and multi-kills from ZywOo in the process, Vitality went on a massive run to hit eight rounds.

Kinguin then brought the deficit to a minimum, eventually taking the lead after winning four rounds in a row in the second half, bringing the scoreline 11-8. Against the tide of the game, Vitality won their first round as Terrorists with just CZs in a B execution, and, after that, ran all over the Polish defence to lock down the map at 16-12.

Meanwhile, Valiance took on Fragsters, who had beaten MIKSTURA in the previous stage of the qualifier. It all started on Mirage, Valiance's map pick, with Rokas "⁠EspiranTo⁠" Milasauskas and co. securing their Terrorist pistol and the subsequent anti-eco. The Danes went on a six-round winning streak, but Valiance still managed to switch sides with a narrow 8-7 lead.

Fragsters began the second half on the right foot, stringing four rounds together to make it 11-8 in their favor, but Valiance picked up the pace and closed out the map at 16-12.

After losing the first two rounds on Nuke, Fragsters turned the score around, but Valiance kept punishing the game and were up 10-5 by half-time. With Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač and Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković leading the way with 22 kills, there was little that Fragsters could do to stop Valiance, who punched their ticket to the Europe Minor with a 16-8 win.

The Europe Minor leading to the IEM Katowice Major will run from January 16-20, with the team list looking as follows: