Vitality eliminate Heroic to seal final playoff spot in Cologne

Vitality clinched the final playoffs spot at ESL One Cologne after defeating HEROIC in two closely-contested maps.

Vitality opened up the series on Overpass, where the Frenchmen got off to a 2-0 start. HEROIC posted their first round in the third, securing the ensuing rounds to take a 5-2 lead on the Terrorist side. After trading the following three rounds, a quad-kill from Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy in the 11th round swung the half into Vitality’s favour as they went on to lock down seven of the next eight rounds for a 9-6 scoreline at the halfway mark.

The second pistol saw a double nade stack on the bomb planter open the doors for a convincing retake from HEROIC, who proceeded to secure an additional four rounds to reclaim the lead. Vitality answered back, however, with five consecutive rounds of their own, ascending to a 14-10 position. HEROIC were able to keep the scoreline competitive with impactful AWP kills from the hands of Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen, but a Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut 1v2 halted the Danish comeback as Vitality went on to close out the map 16-13.

The second map, Inferno, began with Vitality picking up the pistol on the T side, but back-and-forth force buys saw the two sides trade blows for three rounds before HEROIC were able to come out on top, eventually cruising to an 8-3 lead. A 1v3 post-plant clutch from Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire put Vitality back on track, though, as the Frenchmen were able to narrow the scoreline to a 9-6 deficit at halftime.

Despite their initial success in the first half, HEROIC could not find their footing on the Terrorist side. Vitality dominated the Danes on the defence in the early rounds of the second half, hitting 11-9 swiftly; however, a double-kill from Niels Christian "⁠NaToSaphiX⁠" Sillassen with the CZ-75 in a post-plant situation put HEROIC’s first T side round on the board. The Frenchmen struck back immediately to hit series point, but HEROIC would not bow out easily, clawing their way to 14 rounds. apEX and ZywOo refused to allow the match go to overtime, locking down the B bombsite in the final round to win the map 16-14, and the series 2-0.