Vitality end FaZe's streak at 18 to win BLAST Fall Final

The BLAST Paris Major champions win their first trophy in CS2 after beating an underwhelming FaZe in the tournament decider.

Vitality won the BLAST Premier Fall Final after beating FaZe 2-0 in the tournament decider in the Royal Arena to cap off a dream debut event for William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman, who finally gets a trophy on his player page.

FaZe came into the match looking to extend their streak to 19 matches and win their fourth trophy in a row, but they produced an uninspired performance, especially on Vertigo, where Vitality were in control almost from the get-go. Nuke was a much closer affair, but an uncharacteristic mistake at 11-11 proved costly for FaZe, who may have made their last appearance with Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken.

"I’m just so proud of the boys," Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire said after the match. "I didn't expect to win the tournament before coming here. But the grind we made all together—practice, individual — was insane. I love it. I’m speechless. It’s good to win in Copenhagen after losing two years ago."

The French tactician was also happy that Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut proved his doubters wrong. He picked up his 17th MVP award after averaging a tournament-high 1.35 rating. "Guys, who said ZywOo wasn’t good in CS2, for fuck’s sake?"

The series started with a curveball thrown at FaZe in the form of a Vertigo pick. Vitality hadn’t played the map since IEM Cologne 2023 and had only won two of the last six games played on it, so the decision caught fans and pundits by surprise. But apEX’s troops quickly demonstrated a good feel for the map.

Vitality came out the brighter of the two sides, building a 4-1 lead off the back of a full eco victory in the second round. Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan found himself on the losing end of clutches in back-to-back rounds, but he kept his cool and led his team to a 9-3 half with a stunning 20-5 score.

More misery was to come for FaZe as Vitality added to their lead with a pistol round win. A solitary frag by Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen was all that they could muster on the map as Vitality quickly put the game to bed.

Vitality carried that momentum into Nuke and stormed to a 3-0 lead following a 1v1 clutch from mezii in the pistol round. FaZe picked up the pace once their economy was in order and won seven rounds in a row, with Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard leading the charge with several multi-kill rounds. As the half neared its conclusion, Vitality managed to rediscover their momentum, cutting the deficit to 7-5 with two great rounds by ZywOo.

The second half began with another clutch going the way of Vitality, this time from Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi. They kept the pressure going in the gun rounds and kept FaZe from stringing rounds together, building an 11-9 win. FaZe responded with back-to-back rounds to leave their opponents strapped for cash, but then calamity struck: Vitality hit series point with only one gun in hand, punishing FaZe's weak ramp hold, and followed it up with another round to win the match.