OG defeat Vitality to secure semi-final spot at BLAST World Final

The event's lowest-ranked team secures the top seed in Group B and progresses straight to the semi-final.

OG defeated Vitality with a 2-0 scoreline and got revenge for the loss at the IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage. This time, Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković and company came back from an 8-13 deficit on Inferno before closing out the series on Mirage with a 16-9 victory. Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan was the top performer on the server with a 1.28 rating, while Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire struggled individually on the other side, putting up just 14 kills in 55 rounds of play.

OG are now set to face the winner of the match between Liquid and Natus Vincere on Saturday at 12:30 , where they will hope to continue their unexpected run at the tournament. For Vitality, this isn't the end of the road, with Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut and company set to face off against G2 in Friday's quarter-final at 16:00 .

flameZ was a star all through the series

Inferno began with the teams engaging in force-buy wars, as OG's quick B attack nullified Vitality's earlier pistol-round win. ZywOo and company held on despite that, eventually taking a 4-1 lead. Once OG got to a gun round, they started exploiting Vitality's shortcomings on the CT side, particularly on the B site. They attacked the site for several rounds in a row, with Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi and especially apEX, who got just one kill in the first half, unable to deter their attacks. OG soon found themselves 7-5 up, before a late resurgence by Vitality reduced the deficit to just one at the interval.

Vitality looked like a completely different team a the start of their offense, as Spinx clutched out a 1vs3 in the pistol round. That propelled his team to a scorching start, winning six rounds in a row to find themselves 13-8 up. Just as the game looked lost for OG, Maciej "⁠F1KU⁠" Miklas leaped through smoke to kill three attackers on the B site, getting his team on the scoreboard for the first time in the half. That moment transformed the CT side in every aspect, as they started to claw back the deficit round after round. OG limited their opponents to just one more round, eventually reaching map point with a few dominant holds. Adam "⁠NEOFRAG⁠" Zouhar put the cherry on top of the map as he got an ace in the final round, OG going into Mirage with a 1-0 lead.

Next up was Mirage, a map where OG sported a 14% win rate in the last three months of play. That didn't look to be the case, however, as the European combine got off to a lightning start, with a brilliant performance by flameZ and Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov providing them early success. Vitality were slow to start but got into the game in due course, reducing the disadvantage to three rounds and looking in control of proceedings. In the closing stages of the half, it was none other than F1KU who once again stepped up when needed, winning a 1vs2 clutch to stabilize OG's economy and give them a 10-5 lead.

Vitality gave themselves a chance with a pistol-round win and kept the game close throughout the beginning of the second half but ultimately fell short. NEOFRAG won a crucial 1vs1 to get the scoreline to 13-9, and when Vitality's Palace aggression in the next round failed to work out, OG looked set to book their place in the semi-final. A 1vs1 clutch by F1KU closed out the game, securing OG's second upset in a row.

BLAST Premier World Final 2022Best of 3

OG

Matchpage

2

0

15th December 2022

Vitality

16

Inferno

14

16

Mirage

9

OG	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Shahar 'flameZ' ShushanflameZ	45 - 34	+11	84.9	74.5%	1.28
Abdul 'degster' Gasanovdegster	43 - 28	+15	72.0	80.0%	1.26
Maciej 'F1KU' MiklasF1KU	34 - 29	+5	73.0	78.2%	1.16
Adam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharNEOFRAG	37 - 39	-2	78.6	72.7%	1.15
Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovićnexa	29 - 30	-1	62.9	74.5%	0.99

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	44 - 34	+10	84.6	65.5%	1.21
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	39 - 38	+1	72.5	70.9%	1.04
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	33 - 39	-6	75.3	69.1%	0.92
Lotan 'Spinx' GiladiSpinx	29 - 37	-8	56.4	67.3%	0.82
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	14 - 41	-27	41.4	52.7%	0.53