Vitality defeat FaZe to secure semi-final berth at BLAST Spring Final

The reigning Major champions have now won seven maps in a row against FaZe.

Vitality defeated FaZe to secure a top-four spot at the BLAST Spring Final. The reigning Major champions won the series in two, edging out Anubis (19-17) and Mirage (16-8) to eliminate FaZe from Washington D.C. and send them to the player break early.

Vitality are now on a collision course with G2 in the semi-final of the $425,000 event on Saturday, as Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut and company aim to win their third tournament in a row to end the season.

"We did everything for the Major and we won it, and it's pretty hard going into a tournament after that," began Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire when touching on their slow start at the tournament. "We almost had no practice coming into here, Spinx was sick and we were playing with JACKZ actually."

"We came back together, and we showed up a lot better in the last two days, and that's what my team is about."

Anubis was Vitality's chosen map, where the European combine has shown solid form by winning their last six outings. They started the map against FaZe well, putting together a fantastic 4vs4 retake of the A site in the pistol to take an early lead. FaZe immediately answered back with a forcebuy and the game descended into chaos, with Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen and company eventually forcing their opponents onto an eco and taking a 7-3 lead. ZywOo's AWP then started to find impact, and the French sniper helped his team string five rounds together which meant they went into the second half one round ahead.

FaZe's star trio came out swinging to begin the second half, resulting in a 13-9 lead for the Grand Slam holders. Vitality weren't done yet, however, and apEX proved to be an unlikely source of individual brilliance as he won a 1vs2 to keep his team in the map. They took that momentum to go up 15-13, and while they weren't able to close out in regulation, Vitality won out the map in the first overtime, 19-17, to move the series onto Mirage.

Mirage's first half was another hot start for Vitality, who won the pistol and raced to a 5-1 lead. FaZe did get back into the game by keeping Vitality's economy at breaking point throughout the first half with a couple of close eco rounds but still trailed by three at halftime.

A snappy Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi quad-kill in the pistol put Vitality on double digits and they took over the game's momentum completely, with FaZe looking deflated as the game neared its end. Vitality eventually closed out the map 16-8 and set up a semi-final against G2, set to be played in front of a live crowd.