Vitality knock Heroic out of DreamHack Masters Spring - Europe

Vitality reverse swept HEROIC to progress in the DreamHack Masters Spring - Europe lower bracket.

Vitality entered the matchup versus HEROIC brimming with confidence after a successful campaign at BLAST Premier Spring Europe Showdown on Sunday. The Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire-led squad were able to build on their positive DreamHack Masters Spring Group C performance as well as their BLAST showing to take down the Danish opposition in three maps to set up a lower bracket match against the winner between Astralis and Ninjas in Pyjamas in the next round.

The series commenced on Mirage, the map pick of HEROIC, where Vitality kicked off proceedings with a CT pistol victory and the subsequent round for a 2-0 start. Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller’s men responded immediately as they got guns in hand, but the Frenchmen replied in kind.

However, the back and forth between the two teams soon dissipated as a trio of frags at 6-4 from René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen helped HEROIC continue to stack rounds on their T side and take complete control all the way through to the halftime break, with a Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund quadruple kill concluding the Danes’ offence for an 11-4 lead.

Vitality turned it up a gear at the half switch, brute-forcing their way through the defensive setups of HEROIC and swiftly narrowing the score difference to 9-11, with Kévin "⁠misutaaa⁠" Rabier’s multi-kills proving crucial. With the French side breathing down the necks of the Danish squad, HEROIC set to work on the CT side, tightening up their system to edge towards a map win. Briefly after, Mirage reached its end as cadiaN and co. strung together the required rounds for a 16-10 scoreline, with stavn closing out the last round to post a 1.73 rating.

A crisp Glock triple kill at the hands of Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut put Vitality on the path to an early 3-0 advantage on the offensive side of Dust2, but HEROIC promptly levelled the score once rifles came out. Six of the following seven rounds went overwhelmingly in favour of the Frenchmen, which included a trademark Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon 1v3 clutch. An unorthodox triple AWP setup secured HEROIC the final three rounds of the half to leave them chasing a 6-9 deficit at the midway point.

Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy displayed his skilful pistol ability with a quad kill to kick off the defence, shortly followed up by a triple Scout kill from ZywOo. Three rounds were all HEROIC could muster on the offence across the half as the deadly duo of RpK and ZywOo continued to shut down the Danes repeatedly, briskly wrapping up Dust2, 16-9, and forcing a decider.

HEROIC’s T side struggles persisted on Vertigo as apEX spearheaded a stellar defence for Vitality with consistent opening kills. Three sporadic rounds early in the first half were the only positive takeaways for the Danes, with the French squad dominantly locking down a seven-round streak at the end of the half for a commanding 12-3 lead.

Johannes "⁠b0RUP⁠" Borup came alive with two outstanding rounds to breathe life into his team’s comeback effort as HEROIC switched to defending the two bombsites. However, Vitality’s extensive lead proved to be insurmountable with three consecutive rounds from the Frenchmen concluding the map at 16-6 to eliminate HEROIC from DreamHack Masters Spring - Europe.