Vitality beat Complexity to sneak into Major playoffs

apEX's charges reach the quarter-finals after a three-map win over the North Americans.

Vitality are through to the playoff stage of PGL Major Copenhagen after a hard-fought victory over Complexity. It was a chaotic series that could have easily gone the way of the North Americans, who let three map points slip on Inferno before cruising to a comfortable victory on Vertigo. Anubis, the decider map, saw both teams put in strong defensive performances but struggle on the offense, with Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan helping his team across the finish line.

Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli put in an impressive performance on the last two maps, but it was still not enough to see Complexity through as Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski went missing throughout the series. Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut also had a very quiet game, by his lofty standards, with Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire confirming after the match that the AWPer is still not feeling well.

"That felt really good, even though it's a bit of a disaster, the way we played," apEX said. "I'm just happy. As you know, the best player in the world isn't feeling well. Even though we have a strong team, it's tough not to have him."

Date	Matches
PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024
21/03/2024	Vitality Finished 10:13 Eternal Fire	Match
21/03/2024	Vitality Finished 13:9 The MongolZ	Match
22/03/2024	Imperial Finished 9:13 Vitality	Match
23/03/2024	Complexity Finished 1:2 Vitality	Match

Vitality came out looking sluggish on their map pick of Inferno and found themselves chasing a 0-6 deficit on the T side. apEX pulled the team out of a massive hole with a trio of frags in a 2v3 situation in an eco round, helping the squad stabilize. The half ended with only two frags separating the teams as Vitality dictated the pace in the final stages.

Complexity responded by taking the first two rounds of the second half, but Vitality quickly regained control of the game and put together a string of rounds to equalize the score at 9–9. EliGE, who by then was having a very quiet game, woke up and helped his team get to map point, but they were unable to deal the finishing blow as regulation ended with a 12-12 stalemate.

The first set of extra rounds couldn't determine a winner, though apEX nearly won the game with a 1v4 clutch in the final round. As Vitality secured victory in the second overtime, the French IGL could hardly believe how his team had managed to come out on top of such a messy affair.

Vertigo began in the same manager as the previous map as Complexity jumped out to a 5-0 lead after another very slow start by Vitality. Just like on Inferno, the European team would reduce the deficit to 7-5, but the scoreline could have been much different if William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman hadn't pulled off a heroic clutch in a round where EliGE's computer crashed. As the game entered half-time, hallzerk sat at the top of the scoreboard with a 17-6 score and a 131 ADR.

Vitality won their first pistol round of the series in a clean fashion and converted the follow-up to bring the scoreline to 7-7, but that's how far they'd go: Complexity put together a very tight defense and won six rounds in a row to take the series to a third map.

The decider map, Anubis, didn't follow the traditional path as both teams struggled on the offense. hallzerk was once again the hero as Complexity jumped out to a 6-1 lead, but a late recovery from Vitality saw the half end with a 7-5 scoreline.

flameZ kept the pressure on Complexity with four frags in the following pistol round. The North Americans still attempted a response, but they were made to pay for their inability to string rounds together as Vitality pulled through in the end to book a spot in the Royal Arena - where apEX hopes ZywOo will be able to show all his power.

"We need him," apEX said. "It's a Major. If your best player is not there, it's really difficult. I'm happy we're in the quarterfinals. Fuck how we did it."