Vitality make Dallas playoffs over HooXi-less G2

The apEX-led team beat Monte and G2 to become the first playoff team in Dallas.

Vitality have defeated G2 in the Group A upper-bracket semi-final to secure a playoff spot at IEM Dallas. They beat the Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen-less G2 in a confident two-map series (Dust2 13-6, Anubis 13-5) despite having a slow start on the first map.

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut and company now wait for the winners of Liquid vs. 9z in the Group A final, while G2 will fight against the winner of MOUZ vs. Complexity for their tournament lives.

Date	Matches
IEM Dallas 2024
29/05/2024	G2 02:10 MOUZ	Match
29/05/2024	9z 22:15 Vitality	Match

G2, who are playing without HooXi at the tournament, simply couldn't get going in the series. Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip had a particularly rough game on Dust2, where he put up only two kills, but even an improved performance by the American rifler couldn't prevent a similar outcome on Anubis.

G2 decided to completely switch up the veto in the series by banning Vertigo, picking Dust2, and letting Mirage go through as the decider. The decision seemed to be a good one, as they ran away to a 5-1 lead on Dust2, but their simple playstyle was soon found out by their opponents.

Vitality eventually closed out a 13-6 victory after winning 12 out of the last 13 rounds, with Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan a massive part of their victory as the Israeli rifler put up 23 kills and 117.6 ADR.

Vitality were then given the gift of starting T-side on Anubis by G2 and made the most out of it, as they won a near full-eco in the second round and never looked back.

A 9-3 half pretty much ensured their victory, and even if G2 won the second-half pistol, they once again lost a round to just one P250 and two Deagles immediately after. That was the final nail in the coffin for G2, who eventually admitted defeat in a 5-13 loss.