Vitality secure opening win at EPL over ENCE

The Frenchmen have gotten off on the right foot in their first match of the new season, with Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut looking in great form.

Vitality have clinched their first victory in Group A at ESL Pro League Season 14, fending off ENCE in the opening round 2-0 (Mirage 16-14, Overpass 16-8). It was none other than ZywOo who stood out from the pack with a 1.38 rating in the series, a good sign of things to come from the superstar after he ended the previous season with somewhat of a sub-par showing at IEM Cologne — at least for his standards.

"We've put high expectations [on ourselves] for the second part of the season," Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire said in the post-match interview when talking about the team's year so far, which has been a disappointment in the team's eyes, in particular when compared to the largely successful year 2020.

The in-game leader went on to comment on ZywOo's form and getting the most out of the 20-year-old, saying "we just tried to think about what was wrong with him during the [IEM Cologne] tournament, and we felt we found the solution, and obviously he's going to get better in the second part of the season."

Vitality looked to kick off the series on a strong foot with their Mirage pick, but what seemed like an easy going in the first half turned into a tricky map to close in the second for the favorites. ENCE found a way into the map early after keeping the pressure up with consecutive forcebuys, but although they seized the economic advantage after a few close rounds, Vitality quickly recovered to pick up a 10-5 half on the back of a convincing defense.

A pistol round going ZywOo's team's way spelled trouble for ENCE, but Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer's side climbed back into contention thanks to Olek "⁠hades⁠" Miskiewicz' Deagle work yet again. Vitality finally found an answer when just one round separated the two teams with apEX finding key openings in middle, and although ENCE mustered another attempt at a comeback, the Frenchmen found the closing in round 30 with a well-timed B attack.

Overpass turned out a much simpler affair for Vitality. This time, the favorites didn't let ENCE find space with their forcebuys and remained in control from beginning to end while the European mixture struggled to find momentum. In what was a team effort, the French side rallied to a 16-8, 2-0 victory to secure their first win in the round-robin.