Vitality Conquers Spirit to reach StarLadder Budapest Major Grand Finals

Questioned for their poor performances in the latter half of the year, Vitality has become the first team to reach the Grand Finals of the StarLadder Budapest Major by beating Team Spirit with a 2-0 scoreline. It was a classy comeback to start the series and a dominant victory on their opponent’s pick. Vitality stood the test of donk in style.

VETO

• Vitality removed Ancient
• Spirit removed Inferno
• Vitality picked Mirage
• Spirit picked Dust2
• Spirit removed Nuke
• Vitality removed Train
• Overpass was left over

Map 1: Mirage; Pick: Vitality; Winner: Vitality

Donk rushing out on mid and getting a 3K on the pistol kicked things off for Spirit, who went on to build a 5-0 lead off the back of it. The early domination was met with some resistance from Vitality by the end of the first half, which presented us with a more competitive scoreline before they switched sides with a 7-5 scoreline. Spirit built on their narrow lead to hit map point with a comfortable lead before Vitality started mounting their comeback. Back-to-back 6 rounds on the defence from Vitality saw them push the game to overtime, having stood on the face of defeat 6 times. With the first OT failing to separate both sides, Vitality edged it out in the second one, winning 2 rounds on both CT and T side. 34 kills from donk fell flat against ZyWoo, ropz, and mezii coming together as a team to make the comeback.

Map 2: Dust2; Pick: Spirit; Winner: Vitality

Having edged out a close win on the map before, Vitality had a better start to Dust2, but not as comfortable as the one Spirit had in Mirage. Both teams put up streaks in the first half, and the game ended in a level scoreline. Spirit winning the pistol round put them in the lead before Vitality converted the first gun round of the second half. Winning the first gun round, they put together a 7-game streak to wipe the floor with the Spirit defence and lock their spot in the Grand Finals with a 13-8 scoreline. Having had a rough start to the series, ZyWoo came into his own in Dust2 with 18 kills and 1.42 IR, proving instrumental, especially in early and mid rounds.

Team Spirit, who remained undefeated up until this match, had established themselves as favourites for the trophy coming into the match against Vitality. Suffice it to say that they were not off their game, but Vitality were just too good both individually and collectively. The new Spirit roster is yet to show its potential, and it would be too unfair to call for roster changes before giving the side the experience and time it deserves.