Vitality defeat Evil Geniuses to secure group final at BLAST

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut shined against the North American squad with a fantastic 1.87 rating across two maps.

Vitality claimed their second victory at BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023 after taking down Evil Geniuses in Group A's upper bracket final. The European mix stole their opponent's pick of Overpass (16-11) before a wipeout on Inferno (16-1) following a poor CT side from Sanzhar "⁠neaLaN⁠" Iskhakov's men.

The victory puts Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen's team just one series away from potentially securing a spot at the Spring Finals, with the Group A final set to take place on Wednesday at 18:30 against the lower-bracket victors. The winners will advance to the next event, while the other team will drop into the single-elimination knockout bracket.

Evil Geniuses have not been successful in this fixture recently, with their last victory over Vitality being almost two years ago. This latest defeat means the North Americans have been relegated to the lower bracket and will face the winner of the Danish derby between Heroic vs. Astralis.

Evil Geniuses hoped to replicate the success found on the opening match against Heroic, but their plans were shut down by Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi and ZywOo. The Israeli rifler in particular was untouchable on Overpass' CT side, finding several multi-kills to salvage rounds for Vitality and secure his place at the top of the scoreboard with a 22-10 K-D and 2.06 rating. In contrast, Evil Geniuses' newest member Jerric "⁠wiz⁠" Jiang failed to find his footing in the game and struggled to make an impact as his team went into the break with a 6-9 deficit.

The North American marksman turned his form around after switching to the CT side, and thanks to him Evil Geniuses briefly held out against Vitality. It was not enough to turn the tide of the game, however, and ZywOo led the offense to a 16-11 victory with a 1.63 T rating ahead of their map pick of Inferno.

zonic's men did not slow down after the first map and continued their aggression on Inferno's T side, spearheaded by ZywOo and Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire. Evil Geniuses crumbled during their defensive half as they failed to keep hold of both sites while their economy stagnated due to several failed saves. Vitality easily cruised to a 14-1 lead, making their victory just a formality as they quickly stole the second pistol round to secure the series with a 16-1 win.