Group B led off with Vitality returning from the rut and G2 taking a close win over NIP
ENCE led off group B with a 2-1 win over mousesports, though looking at individual player performances it would certainly appear as though mousesports were the ones to take the series. Robin “ropz” Kool ended with 71 kills and 100 DPR, topfragging in 2 of the 3 maps. Though losing map one, ropz led mousesports to absolutely decimate ENCE in their sole win on Vertigo (16-5). ENCE took an early lead in game 3 on Inferno, Lotan “Spinx” Giladi and Joonas “doto” Forss pushing ENCE across the finish line.
Definitely not a favorite going into this group, ENCE gave themselves a promising start but still has a long way to go to prove themselves as legitimate contenders.
Series two was a tightly contested bout between NIP and G2, though G2 ultimately came away with an uneasy sweep. This was G2’s first look with their new roster, recently subbing out Kenny “kennyS” Shrub for Audric “JaCkz” Jug. Game 1 on Inferno saw the consequences of this roster shuffle come to light, as while Niola “Niko” Kovac was announced to take on an AWPer/rifler mixed role, it was Francois “AmaNEk” Delaunay who headed the sniper position with 7 AWP kills.
Finishing attacker side with only a 7-8 lead, G2 managed to keep NIP to four rounds in the second half to claim the map. G2 all series long were faced with mitigating Freddrick “REZ” Sterner’s incredible performance, who ended with 63 kills, 91 DPR, and 16 first bloods despite the loss. Though REZ continued to pose a constant threat, Nemanja “nexa” Isaković and JaCkz pulled G2 into a 22-19 OT win.
Vitality, and specifically Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, came into their first series against FaZe looking to dig themselves out of the rut they’ve been in thus far in 2021. Recently, the former 1st place team on the HLTV World Rankings have most notably dropped out of IEM Katowice 2021 in the group stage and finished in the BLAST Premier group stage 10th-12th. Also recently dropping Nabali “Nivera” Benrlitom, Vitality hoped a more cohesive, traditional 5-man roster would rekindle their past success.
Also read: Vitality benches Nivera and return to 5-man roster
Vitality, and specifically Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, came into their first series against FaZe looking to dig themselves out of the rut they’ve been in thus far in 2021. Recently, the former 1st place team on the HLTV World Rankings have most notably dropped out of IEM Katowice 2021 in the group stage and finished in the BLAST Premier group stage 10th-12th. Also recently dropping Nabali “Nivera” Benrlitom, Vitality hoped a more cohesive, traditional 5-man roster would rekindle their past success.
Vitality managed to find a 2-1 win over arguably their most difficult group opponent. The FaZe squad put up a fight by dominating their map pick of Mirage. Starting with a 5 round win streak, Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken carried on this momentum with a pistol round ace. Taking the map 5-16, this was easily FaZe’s best showing and it made it appear as though it’d be quick 2-0.
Vitality’s success is inseparably correlated to ZywOo’s performance, and as he began to heat up Vitality began looking unstoppable, winning Dust2 16-10. Once again, FaZe got a promising start on overpass for game 3, playing safe and saving in most post-plant situations with the full knowledge that this lead could be eviscerated by the French squad at any point. Sure enough, ZywOo’s clutch at the end of the first half turned FaZe lead into a 7-8 deficit. Though FaZe was able to keep Vitality to match point, they only ended up extending the game as Vitality won 16-12.
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Image credit: Team Vitality