Team Vitality
Team Vitality
Europe
Rank #9
trexx
Nikita Cherednichenko
Kicks
Kimmie Laasner
runneR
Emil Trajkovski
ceNder
Jokūbas Labutis
Sayf
Saif Jibraeel
have beaten
Team Heretics
Team Heretics
Europe
Rank #1
MiniBoo
Dominykas Lukaševičius
Wo0t
Mert Alkan
RieNs
Enes Ecirli
benjyfishy
Benjamin David Fish
Boo
Ričardas Lukaševičius
2-1, locking in their Champions slot as the fourth team from EMEA.
This victory finalizes the EMEA points leaderboard, with Vitality coming in fourth, just over
Karmine Corp
Karmine Corp
Europe
Rank #33
MAGNUM
Martin Penkov
tomaszy
Tomás Machado
N4RRATE
Marshall Massey
marteen
Martin Pátek
sh1n
Ryad Ensaad
. Their semifinal opponents Heretics, alongside
FNATIC
FNATIC
Europe
Rank #2
Boaster
Jake Howlett
Chronicle
Timofey Khromov
Alfajer
Emir Ali Beder
and
FUT Esports
FUT Esports
Europe
Rank #10
MrFaliN
Furkan Yeğen
yetujey
Eray Budak
AtaKaptan
Ata Tan
cNed
Mehmet Yağız İpek
qRaxs
Doğukan Balaban
, round out the EMEA convoy heading into Seoul next month.
The match almost seemed to go Heretics' way, after they kept Vitality's comeback at bay in map one. The Golden Hornets came back from a 9-3 deficit into overtime, only to lose 14-12 due to stellar plays from Boo in the final rounds of the map.
It was Sayf 's Sunset performance that kept Vitality alive in the match, as he carried the team to a 13-10 victory with an ace midway through and a ridiculous slide kill to close out the map, giving Heretics their first loss on the map in 10 matches.
New Neon, everybody.Bind closed everything out in favor of the Golden Hornets. The first half was a tightly-contested affair, even despite benjyfishy 's Sheriff ace, but Vitality let a comeback slip through and Heretics reached overtime. There, Kicks dealt the finishing blow in a Gekko 1v1 against RieNs that booked the bees' tickets to Seoul.
Sayf felt like the catalyzing force behind Vitality's victory. The Swede put the team on his back with 27 kills, a 1.42 rating, nearly 300 ACS, and eight multikills on Sunset alone. The performance was a step above anyone else's on Icebox and unmatched on Bind, even by himself.
His Sheriff isn't clean, it's the cleanest.Vitality's victory marks a new age for the Golden Hornets. Despite debuting on the scene in early 2021, the team has never qualified to a LAN event and have only attended LOCK//IN, where the bees won just a single match.
This year wasn't exactly the best for Vitality either up until this point: the team missed the VCT EMEA Stage 1 playoffs, placing last in their group, and failed to reach the playoffs of Kickoff prior to that. Now they are back, in form, and ready to make their international debut.
There was no better way for Vitality to end their LAN drought than to qualify for Champions, where a fourth world champion will undecidedly be crowned. But before they can do that, they have to go through the EMEA wringer.
Vitality rejoin the server tomorrow, at 6 p.m. CEST, against FUT or FNATIC.