Vitality recover from Nuke drubbing to make BLAST Porto semi-final

EX's troops put a shaky Nuke behind them to take the series 2-1.

Vitality qualified for the BLAST Open Porto semi-final by defeating FURIA in a three-map series (Nuke 6-13, Cache 13-11, Dust2 13-4).

"We got a bit outplayed, one of the worst T-sides we ever did," Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire said about Nuke in an interview on stage. "But then we lost both pistols on Cache but still won, and Dust2 is back, motherfuckers."

"We want to get back to our best level, it's not there yet, but it's coming."

Vitality now move on to face MOUZ in the semi-final, with Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius set to face off against another team he substituted for in recent times.

The series began with FURIA 's dominance, as they suffered only two deaths in the first five rounds and looked unfazed by anything Vitality had to offer, with Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo even reading some notes while winning a 1vs2 clutch.

EX 's men needed nine rounds to get on the board, and while a second-round pistol made the scoreline appear closer, FURIA 's win was never in doubt.

"15% gameplan and 85% feeling and momentum," Sid "⁠sidde⁠" Macedo described the map from his point of view.

It looked like FURIA 's rampage would continue as they went up early on Cache, but Vitality fought back valiantly, with jL 's 1vs2 clutch setting the half-time score at 8-4.

The rest of the map was far from pretty, with individual highlights overshadowing well-constructed game plans. In the end, Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut 's 1.72-rated performance was enough for Vitality 's 13-11 victory.

That meant a decider on Dust2, where Vitality were on a five-match win streak — three of them with jL at BLAST Porto.

Their repetition on the map showed up in spades, as they won their offensive half 8-4 before shutting down anything FURIA had to offer in the second half to breeze into the semi-final with a 13-4 victory.