Vitality reverse-sweep Falcons to make playoffs

EX's men got revenge for the quarter-finals of the Cologne Major by recording their first win over Falcons in a year.

Vitality are the second team through to the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 24 after reverse-sweeping Falcons in the 2-0 pool (9-13 Anubis, 13-4 Dust2, 13-8 Mirage).

It was the first meeting between the teams since their quarter-final matchup at the IEM Cologne Major, where Falcons emerged victorious en route to their first Major title. Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire highlighted that loss as one that stung when speaking to the broadcast after the match, stating the other losses often came in events Vitality cared less about or were in lower-stakes matches.

Vitality snapped a five-game losing skid against Falcons with the victory, their last series win dating back to the final of ESL Pro League Season 22 almost exactly one year ago.

They had to fight from behind after repeatedly losing out in opening duels cost them a win on Anubis. Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov was nigh-unstoppable and led that effort with a 10-1 opening duel record and 1.87 rating, numbers that helped his team convert victory after Vitality closed the gap with a pistol win.

Falcons couldn't get much going from that point onward, though, with a 2.10-rated Dust2 from Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan , a miserable pair of maps from Maksim "⁠kyousuke⁠" Lukin , and some fantastic calling and fragging from apEX allowing Vitality to romp to a 13-4 win.

That form carried on to the Mirage decider, where kyousuke finally started to find his footing but came alive too late against a warmed-up Vitality . Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman were immovable on the defense and Falcons rarely found entry onto bombsites, only making the scoreline close after a pistol win before Vitality closed out the series.