Vitality beat Liquid to move on in BLAST Premier Global Final upper bracket

The French team are just one victory away from the grand final after putting up another strong performance.

Vitality have set up a clash with Astralis in the upper bracket final of the BLAST Premier Global Final following a 2-0 victory over Liquid. An imperious display from Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut helped the French team to pick up a hard-fought victory on Nuke before they headed to their map pick of Vertigo, where veterans Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon and Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy took over. Vitality took the lead from the outset and denied their opponents any chance of a comeback with a series of clutch situations throughout the game.

The French team got off to a lively start, cruising to a 5-0 lead on the CT side of Nuke, where Nabil "⁠Nivera⁠" Benrlitom was once again given the nod to play. Liquid picked up the pace after that, however, and dominated proceedings for the rest of the half for a 9-6 score, with Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic leading the charge with 15 frags to his name and a 119 ADR.

Vitality will take on Astralis on Saturday for a spot in the final

Vitality came out of the break a revitalised side, winning eight of the initial nine rounds to get on the brink of victory. Liquid remained calm and collected - despite losing a painful 2v1 situation to a 1 HP ZywOo -, and took the game the full distance, only to falter at the final hurdle as the Frenchmen turned a 3v4 situation around.

ZywOo opened up the action on Vertigo with a quad-kill in the pistol round to help Vitality into an early lead. The French team controlled the early stages of the game - keeping Liquid from stringing rounds together - and raced to a 6-2 lead before the North Americans put their foot down. Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip's charges put some rounds together to equalise the score, but then Vitality responded with three in a row to gain some momentum before the break.

Now playing on the T side, Liquid took the pistol round convincingly, but there was no follow-up as shox and RpK overcame a 2v5 situation. The French team kept a very tight defense and quickly hit match point, weathering a very late comeback attempt from the North Americans to wrap up the series.

BLAST Premier Global Final 2020Best of 3 VitalityMatchpage 2 0 21st January 2021 Liquid 16Nuke 14 16Vertigo 11

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Richard 'shox' Papillonshox	49 - 32	+17	94.1	1.33
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	40 - 27	+13	73.1	1.30
Cédric 'RpK' GuipouyRpK	37 - 35	+2	72.3	1.12
Nabil 'Nivera' BenrlitomNivera	23 - 19	+4	60.8	1.11
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	38 - 40	-2	78.0	1.11
Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabiermisutaaa	11 - 19	-8	45.9	0.60

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFalleN	37 - 37	0	71.6	1.03
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	38 - 42	-4	76.4	1.03
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	32 - 39	-7	71.9	0.95
Michael 'Grim' WinceGrim	35 - 39	-4	58.8	0.95
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	30 - 41	-11	66.9	0.87

Cédric 'RpK' Guipouy Age: 31 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 1465 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.68 Vitality #2 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' Rabier Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Age: 20 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.28 Maps played: 767 KPR: 0.86 DPR: 0.62 Keith 'NAF' Markovic Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1353 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 Nabil 'Nivera' Benrlitom Age: 19 Team: VitalityS Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 182 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.62 Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Richard 'shox' Papillon Age: 28 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1789 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.66 Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1328 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.68 Liquid #8 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipMichael 'Grim' Wince