Vitality kick off ESL One Cologne run with victory over Heretics

Vitality beat Heretics in a two-map series on Dust2 (16-13) and Overpass (16-8), to proceed through the Group B upper bracket.

The second derby of the day after Sprout’s upset win over BIG featured the French sides of Vitality and Heretics, who faced off for the first time in ESL One: Road to Rio - Europe back in May, with the more experienced of the two French squads coming out ahead in two maps. This time around it was once again Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut and company who got the best of their local rivals, winning a tight Dust2 before sealing the deal with a strong defense on Overpass.

Bryan "⁠Maka⁠" Canda took out three players in the first pistol round on Dust2 to slide Heretics into the lead on the attacking side. Vitality managed to get on the board two rounds later with weapons saved from the forcebuy as Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon and Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy downed two each, tying the map up after four rounds. They didn't slow down with rifles in play as the No. 2 team in the world imposed their will on the CT side, losing just two more rounds on the way to an 11-4 half.

Vitality struck the A site in the second pistol round, but were stopped on their tracks as Heretics tried to regain their footing. Kévin "⁠misutaaa⁠" Rabier then downed three players on another A hit in the second round to secure a 12-5 lead, but Heretics stopped a B play with upgraded pistols the following round to regain momentum. Multikills by Maka, Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey and Lucas "⁠Lucky⁠" Chastang then got Heretics to within one round, 11-12. kioShiMa won a crucial clutch when down 11-14 as his team managed to get back within one again, 13-14, but Vitality didn’t falter, closing out the map 16-13.

Vitality closed out Overpass in style on the CT side

Heretics shut down Vitality on the B site to get ahead on the defending side of Overpass, but were quickly trailing as they lost against the forcebuy and went down 1-3. Heretics brought it to a 3-3 tie with guns in hand and a clean round put them ahead 4-3 as Vitality were forced to eco. ZywOo won a crucial 1vs2 afterplant clutch to keep his team close as they worked their way back to 5-5 before taking the lead at the switch, 9-6.

Vitality got a pistol round win in their fourth try when RpK killed three attackers as the last man standing. Smelling blood in the water, Vitality only gave up the bonus round on their way to match point, which they reached without a hitch, giving up just one more round to Heretics before closing the map out 16-8 to continue through the Group B upper bracket.

ESL One Cologne 2020 EuropeBest of 3

Vitality

Matchpage

2

0

18th August 2020

Heretics

16

Dust2

13

16

Overpass

8

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	51 - 30	+21	101.0	83.0%	1.51
Richard 'shox' Papillonshox	49 - 34	+15	99.8	77.4%	1.46
Cédric 'RpK' GuipouyRpK	41 - 32	+9	80.3	75.5%	1.26
Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabiermisutaaa	35 - 30	+5	63.1	71.7%	1.08
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	25 - 31	-6	60.9	60.4%	0.87

Heretics	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Bryan 'Maka' CandaMaka	40 - 36	+4	72.3	67.9%	1.07
Nabil 'Nivera' BenrlitomNivera	31 - 41	-10	70.4	66.0%	0.84
Fabien 'kioShiMa' FieykioShiMa	33 - 39	-6	63.8	66.0%	0.82
Alexandre 'xms' Fortéxms	29 - 41	-12	60.6	60.4%	0.79
Lucas 'Lucky' ChastangLucky	24 - 44	-20	74.7	62.3%	0.78