Vitality edge out Complexity on jks debut at BLAST Premier Fall Series

The French team subbed-in Nabil "⁠Nivera⁠" Benrlitom mid-series, but it was the two maps they played with Kévin "⁠misutaaa⁠" Rabier that ensured them the win.

In a match that featured debuts of both Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage and Nivera for their respective teams, Vitality managed a narrow victory, 2-1, to advance to the winners' match in BLAST Premier Fall Series group B.

Both squads have already secured spots in the BLAST Premier Global Finals, with the French side using these circumstances to test out their sixth-man Nivera in an official match for the first time. After Vitality won Nuke, the 19-year-old replaced misutaaa for Dust2 and posted a team-high 1.11 rating in the 16-12 defeat, impressing Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire who in the post-match interview said that he saw "a player that can play on a tier 1 level, for sure".

jks's first match outside of an Australian core of players didn't go as he was hoping, though. The rifler contributed to Complexity's Dust2 win with a 1.24 rating, but was bottom of his team's scoreboard for the series (1.04 rating), falling short on the decider Vertigo. Both teams continue their BLAST campaign tomorrow, with their opponents set to be known after the FaZe - BIG match.

A 3-0 lead and a Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer quad kill to secure a 3v5 turnaround set up Complexity for a big lead on the Terrorist side of Nuke (6-1), but Vitality's two A site lockdowns allowed for a comeback. Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut's 1v3 proved pivotal in keeping Complexity's economy low and helped Vitality to finish the half just one round behind, 8-7.

Following the switch, Vitality pushed ahead (13-9), but Complexity got on the edge of equalizing after a streak of rifle round wins and Valentin "⁠poizon⁠" Vasilev finding form (13-12). However, the French team kept their lead and closed out the map after Complexity faltered in an advantageous 2v2, seeing the map end 16-14.

Nivera was swapped in for misutaaa on the second map, Dust2, but despite his solid individual performance, Vitality took a long time to get rolling. After the score was 4-3 early on, Complexity went on a five-round streak and never looked back, with Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke putting in a strong effort on the map.

Following a 10-5 half, blameF's team powered to match point, 15-7, but Vitality woke up and showed a solid CT side at the end. Overtime was becoming a reality as the Frenchmen secured 12, but Complexity closed Dust2 with a B push, moving to Vertigo.

misutaaa returned to Vitality's lineup for the final map, but an in-form William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba caused them a lot of issues, seeing Complexity run up a significant lead (7-2). apEX and co. focused on the B site, where Complexity's new signing jks was playing, and managed to find some late-half success, finishing their T side with five rounds.

Winning five of the first six rounds on the defense meant Vitality were again on the path of a comeback. Complexity's A approaches were shut down round after round, seeing the score equalized at 12-12. Unlike on Dust2, Vitality managed to pull it all the way back on Vertigo, 16-14, as Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon stood out with 27 kills and three clutches.