BIG take Vitality down in IEM Global Challenge opening match

The German squad came out on top in a well-fought decider map on Nuke (16-13) to proceed to the Group A winners' match.

Vitality and BIG have seen plenty of each other in the past few months, with their IEM Global Finals opening match being their fifth series since October, all of which the Frenchmen had won until today's revenge victory from the German squad. The last time the two teams met was in the recently concluded BLAST Premier Fall Finals upper bracket final, which Vitality took 2-1 on their way to lifting the trophy.

The veto was a typical one between the two teams, with Vertigo and Inferno as the maps picked by BIG and Vitality, respectively, and a less-played Nuke remaining as the decider. Vitality were well-positioned to take the opener, their rivals’ pick, with a 9-6 lead at the half, but were unable to crystalize a 15-10 lead and were taken down in overtime. The French squad then tied things up in a one-sided Inferno, securing it 16-7 to push the series to a third map.

BIG and Vitality went to Nuke, where the French squad removed the in-form Kévin "⁠misutaaa⁠" Rabier to keep Nabil "⁠Nivera⁠" Benrlitom on the server, who played the map for the first time in an official match since joining Vitality. The strategy didn't pay off, however, as BIG were able to secure the map 16-13 to proceed to the winners' match.

Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş and Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische turned a 2vs5 around on a B hit to get BIG on the board for the first time on Vertigo, the opening map, after falling behind 0-3 early on. From there on out the German squad snatched the lead on the attack, 6-3, but weren’t able to run away with the half as Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire and company were able to hold their own to make it 9-6 at the switch.

The map became a back-and-forth brawl as no team was able to link two rounds in a row out of the first six of the second half, but it was finally Vitality who were able to stabilize their economy and come out on top to take a 14-9 lead. The French squad then hit match point, but weren’t able to close the map out as BIG won six of the last seven rounds to secure overtime. Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon won a 1vs3 clutch to kick off the extra rounds, but BIG took the lead at the half before charging on the attack to a 19-17 victory.

BIG took a 3-0 lead on the CT side of Inferno, after which Vitality were able to take the first gun round. The German squad didn’t stand down, however, winning two more rounds after that to make it 5-1. Despite the slow start, the French squad were able to get rolling on the offensive, taking eight of the last nine rounds to lead by three at the half.

Nils "⁠k1to⁠" Gruhne and syrsoN secured the second pistol round for BIG, but that would be the only round the German squad would tally in the second half as Vitality won the forcebuy and went on a tear with an expeditious misutaaa who ended the map 25-14 with 122 ADR through the attackers without dropping a round all the way to a 16-7 scoreline.

Nivera was brought on to Nuke for the first time, replacing misutaaa, but it was a turbocharged Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut who got Vitality ahead early on. The Germans were quick to fight back, however, turning around a 2-4 deficit into a 6-4 lead after ten rounds, going on to put Vitality on the back foot with a 9-6 lead at the half.

Vitality equalized after taking the second pistol round before retaking the lead on the first gun round, 10-9, although the match evened out by round 22 as the two teams fought back-and-forth. Finally, it was Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz and company who were able to pull some late match heroics to take the map 16-13 and sercure the series to advance to the Group A winners' match.