French CS has always been very strong and with Vitality leading the scene there could be another dominant era with star player Mathieu ‘Zywoo’ Herbaut at the helm. Yet, they seem to have struggled in the finals of tournaments quite a few times now, how come?
The online era of CS is of course an interesting one with some teams showing up and others struggling from the home environment. Vitality has been prospering under these conditions often having their players in their bootcamp location, being able to create a LAN-like environment.
It took 5 maps, but we fall on the wrong side of the coin, ending 2nd of the Dreamhack Open Fall 😞 pic.twitter.com/LAyQBVEGfC
— Team Vitality 🐝 (@TeamVitality) October 25, 2020
This in combination with an all-star line-up should be able to net them some wins, yet they have come just short of doing that in BLAST Premier Spring 2020 Europe Finals, cs_summit 6 Europe, ESL One Cologne 2020 Europe and again at DreamHack Open Fall 2020.
All about the maps?
One big factor in their losing might be their choice of maps. Statistically Overpass is their best with a 100% win rate, yet it is a map which is somewhat frequently a permabanned map for their opponents. If that’s not the case there is still a factor of a strong AWP-player that can turn the tide on CT-side in an instant. On their second most played map Nuke their win rate is the worst. Against Heroic we saw them play sloppy on CT, often struggling with changes in pace from their opponents.
The Nivera Factor
I’m super excited to be joining @TeamVitality‘s ranks today and play alongside @Vitality_apEX @RpKTANKK @misutaaaCSGO @shoxCSGO @zywoo as well as @XTQZZZ @MaT_CSGO 😍
Can’t wait to start this new adventure! #VForVictory pic.twitter.com/DCfMKAet5a
— Nivera (@Nivera__) October 16, 2020
We’re mainly curious how Vitality will be able to play with Nabil ‘Nivera’ Benrlitom, their newly acquired sixth player. He’s proven his worth whilst playing with Heretics, being both a competent AWP-player and riffler. That might just be the extra power Vitality needs to win and would alleviate some pressure from Zywoo.
What do you think could be the turning point for Vitality to finally get their win? Join the discussion on social media or our Discord!
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