Vitality bully MIBR; through to Gamers8 quarter-finals

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut was back to his usual self as Vitality conceded just 15 rounds in their two-map trouncing of the Brazilians.

Vitality are through to the Gamers8 quarter-finals after taking down MIBR in a two-map series, eliminating the Brazilians following a 16-7 trouncing on Anubis before doubling down with a comfortable 16-8 win on Inferno.

Vitality made the trip to Riyadh without Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen, but the loss of their head coach appears to have done little damage as the BLAST.tv Paris Major champions waltzed to victory in a dominant first-round performance. The Franco-Israeli squad will now look ahead to their next matchup in the single-elimination spectacle in Saudi Arabia with Vitality set to face the winner of the series between FURIA and Natus Vincere on Thursday at 20:00 .

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zonic to miss Gamers8

"Our goal for the tournament is to [have more] joy since we don't have zonic behind us, so we try to have more responsibility," ZywOo began in a post-match interview on stream, touching on the team's attitude without their Danish skipper alongside them. "We're trying to have more joy and to have fun, we know MIBR can be dangerous so we just tried to play our game and that's what happened.

"We tried not to think about not having zonic behind us. We've only had one week of practice with flameZ, so we tried to make new things, try to speak more, and try to add new energy," the Frenchman concluded.

Date	Matches
Gamers8 2023
17/08/2023	Vitality 22:30 Natus Vincere	Match

The must-win series began on Anubis, MIBR's pick, and while Vitality initially started strong with a proactive CT-side, the Brazilians were able to piece a hat-trick of rounds together towards the end of the opening half to trail by just one round at the side swap.

From there, however, Vitality turned it up a notch, the Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire-led roster looking like a completely different team as they cracked open bombsites and ran rings around their foes with ease. With only token resistance being put up by the Brazilians, it didn't take long for Vitality to hoover up all eight rounds on offer to steal MIBR's pick, 16-7, and send the series to their choice of Inferno.

Inferno was equally as one-sided, with Vitality justifying their map pick early on by accruing a commanding 11-4 scoreline by the end of their T-side effort, a number of clutches helping keep the Brazilians firmly underwater midway through the map. MIBR did show signs of life once it was their turn to attack, but in the end the lopsided scoreline proved too steep an obstacle to overcome, Vitality posting the all-important 16th round on the board despite fielding a mishmash buy of an AWP flanked by pistols.