Vitality skip to Fall Final semis over Liquid

A comeback from a 3-10 deficit on Nuke allowed apEX's side to extend their unbeaten streak on the map to 8-0.

Vitality have locked in a top-four finish at BLAST Premier Fall Final after beating Liquid 2-0 (16-12 Anubis, 13-11 Nuke) in Group B's upper bracket final.

It may not have been a resounding win for Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's side, but it was one where they showed tenacity with comebacks on both Anubis and Nuke to advance directly to the semi-finals and resign Liquid to a match against FaZe in the quarters.

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024
27/09/2024	FaZe 19:25 Liquid	Match

Vitality arrived in Denmark looking to shed off their defeat to Eternal Fire in the quarter-final of ESL Pro League Season 20, and a complete dismantlement of Astralis in Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller's debut likely did well to instill some confidence ahead of these comebacks against Liquid.

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Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken's inexperience as a captain reared its head when it mattered most on both maps, but his improvement as a captain and Liquid's continued uptick shows the team remains on a solid trajectory despite multiple players being ill.

apEX's side can also take comfort in not needing to rely on an overperformance from Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut to get the job done, with Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan and Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi stepping up across the series with high impact multi-kills en route to the 2-0.

Liquid will lament not closing leads on both maps, initially surviving a back-and-forth on Anubis to lead 7-5 before pulling out several pocket plays to come back on the CT side from 7-11 to 12-11, powered in large part by Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic.

Vitality stopped that streak and forced overtime, where apEX's excellent reads allowed his side to clean-sweep the extra set of rounds for the win.

Liquid were even more in control of Nuke, Vitality's pick and a map they had a 7-0 record on coming into the series, with the Cologne champions barely tallying three rounds at the break. apEX had a disastrous first half, going 1-11, but recovered with aplomb on the CT side after Vitality won a force-buy by bagging nine kills in three rounds to help his side hit double digits.

The only round Liquid won in the second half, other than the pistol, came from a Tec-9 play into Lower and required heroics from Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage and Roland "⁠ultimate⁠" Tomkowiak. The team came close to converting another round on B to reach map point, but faltered to a phenomenal ace and spray transfer from flameZ, who shone bright in the final three rounds to help Vitality close.