DreamEaters upset Vitality; NRG ease past Syman

No.2 team in the world Vitality stand on the brink of elimination in the StarLadder Major's New Challengers Stage after losing to DreamEaters, while NRG have moved into the 2-1 pool after overrunning Syman.

Vitality began their CT side in dominant fashion as they took the pistol round without losing a single man, but they were immediately put on the back foot as DreamEaters replied in the following round following a quad-kill from Semyon "⁠kinqie⁠" Lisitsyn.

The Russian team used that momentum to carve out a solid lead, forcing Vitality's players to operate with a very fragile economy until the mid-way mark of the half. As the half came to an end, DreamEaters found themselves in the lead (8-7), but they knew that the scoreline could have been much better for them had they not gifted Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire a 1v3 clutch and lost an anti-eco.

After switching over to the CT side, DreamEaters further added to their lead after taking the pistol round and the following two. Vitality responded by chaining five rounds together to take the lead for the first time since the pistol round. It seemed like the Frenchmen had finally got a grip on the game, but the Russian side held firmly in defence and secured the win, raising further questions about Vitality's state after another uninspired performance by Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut, who had no impact whatsoever on the Terrorist side.

Meanwhile, viewers were treated to a demolition job on the secondary stream as NRG made light work of Syman. The CIS side took the first pistol round following a trio of USP headshots by Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy on the retake, but things quickly fell apart for them. The North Americans rallied back immediately on a force buy and went on a tear, ending the first half with a commanding 13-2 lead.

NRG refused to ease the pressure on their opponents and quickly hit match point after switching over to the CT side. Syman still responded following another great individual round by Perfecto, but they were too far behind to muster a comeback and NRG took the map 16-4.