Vitality survive scare from Sprout to qualify for group stage

The series was well contested across all three maps, but Vitality outlasted their opposition down the stretch.

Disaster was narrowly avoided by Vitality as they qualified for the main event in Cologne 2-1, dropping the opener of Vertigo 20-22 before reverse sweeping 16-11 on Dust2 and 16-10 on Overpass.

It would have been incredibly painful for Vitality to fail to make it to the main event here in Cologne after their last event, BLAST Premier Spring Finals, brought their best finish of the year so far. The Franco-Danish squad will need to step their game up if they wish to make any sort of dent in the event proper.

On their own pick of Vertigo Sprout put together a solid T side, grabbing six rounds with their solid A ramp aggression and great trading, however the pistol win and conversion at the start of the map kept Vitality afloat for a 9-6 half win. A lost pistol, two thrown 5v3 situations and two more rounds lost to partial buys threatened to derail Sprout in the second period, but they somehow managed to recover from all their mistakes and force the game to overtime.

Vitality were the team to find match point in the first period of OT, but Victor "⁠Staehr⁠" Staehr bailed his team out with a triple kill on T side to get to double OT. Eventually Sprout did manage to take the map victory 22-20, and credit should go to Staehr for being the main difference between the two teams.

The Fraco-Danish squad fell to a 1-4 at the start of their own pick of Dust2 before getting going, but once they did start to put rounds on the board they took control of the half, their individual prowess key in netting them opening frags.

A 10-5 half seemed like it would be enough for Vitality to secure a decider, but Sprout’s offense was incredibly potent at the start of the half, getting them to 10-10 and putting the result in question. Vitality recovered at the end of the half, getting a better read on their opponents T side, and closed the map out 16-11 to send the series to Overpass.

Overpass began much like Dust2, with Sprout getting out to a convincing lead before Vitality reeled them in, and the boys in black and yellow managed to muster a narrow 8-7 half win. Unfortunately it seemed that Sprout had run out of steam, and they crumbled in the second half to allow Vitality to win the map 16-10 and thus the series.