IEM Cologne 2023Vitality best Cloud9 to secure IEM Cologne semi-final spot
The reigning Major champions did well in their stage debut with Shahar "flameZ" Shushan.
Vitality have booked a spot in the final four of IEM Cologne, doing so by besting Cloud9 in a two-map affair (Mirage 16-11, Inferno 19-17). The reigning Major champions were in control on Mirage, but needed to work for their Inferno win, where Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut's carry performance got them over the line in an overtime affair.
The European combine will now face off against ENCE in the semi-final on Saturday at 15:30 , and flameZ had some choice words for his opponents, especially his countryman Guy "NertZ" Iluz. "We [me and Spinx] need to give him a slapdown and send him back home."
| Date | Matches | |
|---|---|---|
| IEM Cologne 2023 | ||
| 05/08/2023 |
15:30
|
Match |
Dan "apEX" Madesclaire was also full of praise for their latest addition in a post-match interview. "I just told him to embrace the stage and do what you have to do. If you feel something, just go for it, I don't give a fuck." the French captain said about his pre-match talk with the youngster.
"Today we were really strong, nothing could happen to us. We needed to play with a lot of courage and balls, and that's what I did on Mirage, I took my duels against better players than me and won them," apEX ended his assessment of the match against Cloud9.
Cloud9, who were bolstered by Sergey "Ax1Le" Rykhtorov's return to the team ahead of the playoffs, were unable to get the better of the world's No. 2 team, and thus exit the tournament in the quarter-final stage. It was a less-than-ideal start to life for the team that wowed many with their off-season additions, but they showed some good signs in their debut tournament.
The quarter-final started on Mirage, where Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov and Ax1Le got off to slow starts that enabled the European team to race to a 9-3 lead. Despite getting back into the game and having their individuals firing on all cylinders near the end of the map, Cloud9 were unable to trouble Vitality, who ended up closing out the map 16-11.
Inferno was a much closer affair that included a substantial amount of force-buy victories, with apEX and Lotan "Spinx" Giladi's 2vs5 conversion being the most impactful. That round kept Vitality in the game as they did just enough to force out overtime, where ZywOo continued his rampage and helped his team clinch a 19-17 win alongside an IEM Cologne semi-final spot.
  Vitality |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56 - 35 | +21 | 89.5 | 82.5% | 1.46 | |
| 41 - 45 | -4 | 82.8 | 74.6% | 1.11 | |
| 44 - 42 | +2 | 77.8 | 76.2% | 1.11 | |
| 45 - 34 | +11 | 66.9 | 79.4% | 1.08 | |
| 35 - 41 | -6 | 62.8 | 71.4% | 0.96 |
 Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49 - 41 | +8 | 73.8 | 73.0% | 1.15 | |
| 37 - 39 | -2 | 78.4 | 77.8% | 1.05 | |
| 43 - 43 | 0 | 73.3 | 66.7% | 0.98 | |
| 36 - 47 | -11 | 71.5 | 68.3% | 0.88 | |
| 32 - 52 | -20 | 58.5 | 61.9% | 0.74 |
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