Vitality book semi-final spot over ENCE

The French-Danish team achieved their first top-four finish of the season.

Vitality have booked a spot in the semi-finals at BLAST Premier Spring Final after defeating ENCE in a closely contested two map series. They first secured a 16-10 win on Overpass, and then won their opponent's pick of Nuke after an impressive comeback from 11-6 down, eventually coming out 19-17 winners.

Beating the world's No. 2 team, this is the biggest win the new Vitality roster got since the new roster's inception. Next they will be facing G2 in the semi-final on stage on Saturday at 20:00 , where they will hope to get their revenge for the 1-2 loss earlier in the tournament.

The series started off on Overpass, the pick of Vitality. They were quick out of the gates to begin their T side, as they converted the pistol round and didn't look like stopping, going up by eight rounds before ENCE got their name on the scoreboard. A 3k by Pavle "⁠Maden⁠" Bošković turned the momentum of the game completely, as his team lost just one more round during the first half, meaning they had a three round deficit to overcome.

The French-Danish team was able to win the second pistol as well, and converted five rounds off of it to go up 14-6. ENCE once again looked quite comfortable in the gun rounds, getting four round in a row before a curious fake on the B site got Vitality on match point, that they converted at the first time of asking.

Next up was Nuke, a map where ENCE have a 90% win rate in the last three months. Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen's boys were once again able to get off to a good start, going 5-1 up before a clutch by Olek "⁠hades⁠" Miskiewicz got the economy of the French-Danish on the brink of collapse. ENCE won the round and then ran away with the half, ending the half 9-6 up and moving to their CT side.

ENCE got their first pistol of the game in a chaotic round that eventually put them 11-6 up in the game. Vitality were quick to strike back, evening the game at 11-11 in no time as they were able to find holes in the European team's defense. Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer's team got up to match point, and in a round where Paweł "⁠dycha⁠" Dycha already started to take off his headphones in expectation of the third map, Vitality got the last second plant and took his team to overtime.

Once in overtime, the match descended into a scrappy and exciting affair, with Vitality getting two rounds on their T side. As the scoreline read 18-17, ENCE tried their trademark upper-site rush — a play that Vitality looked ready for, booking their place in the semi-final with a 19-17 win on Nuke.