The new-and-improved international Team Vitality squad has rised to the challenge, going 5-0 in Counter Strikes ESL Pro League Season 16 Group A, with Fnatic and NAVI trailing behind to go through to the EPL playoffs.
Vitality, Fnatic, and Ninjas all advanced to the playoffs, defeating each other in Group A.
Mathieu ZywOo Herbaut took his team over the line in a two-map series against CIS underdogs Team Spirit.
Vitality led the Spirits map pick, Nuke, 16-6, thanks to stellar performances from ZywOo and his Danish teammate Emil Magisk Reif. The Group A leaders let Spirit gain momentum on the CT side.
Lotan Spinx Giladi took control of the game and dismantled the Spirits terrorist group as a result of Vitalitys' map pick, Vertigo (16-10).
Fnatic finished the game at 2-0, with Dion FASHR Derksen holding the line and keeping Endpoint's resistance at bay.
Endpoints map pick, Ancient (16-8), was a failure for the team. The CT side could not be stopped, with Endpoint unable to make a hole throughout the half.
Overpass (16-10), a Fnatics map pick, went into the game strongly, with Fnatics' strong CT side coming out on top in the second half. Endpoint only won two rounds in the second half.
Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev was nowhere to be seen in their final best of three defeats against NiP. The Swedes may have lost one map, but the squad brushed NAVI aside in the other, finishing 2-1.
The Swedes defeated the CIS squad on the terrorist side with 11 rounds won on the attacking side. NAVI struggled to find any breathing room to make a comeback in the second half.
Mirage (9-16), was NAVIS' time to shine, with IGL Denis electronic Sharipov leading and fragging, copying NiPs' terrorist form from the previous map.
s1mple finally made an impact on the final map, Overpass, but only for a brief time. In the end, NAVIs CT side could not handle NiPs' attacking strategies, causing them to lose the final map in the best of three.
Group A finished with some stunning upsets and tragic performances from recently changed Counter-Strike rosters.
NAVI advanced to the playoffs thanks to overall map victories in their best of three series despite the fact that their form was somewhat poor throughout the group stage.
Endpoint ruffled the CIS squad's confidence earlier this week, and it appeared to have shook their confidence in the following matches.
Fnatic excelled in his group stage, only losing to Vitality 2-1 and NAVI 2-1. What was initially thought to be a questionable roster, is starting to turn some heads as CSGO fans anticipate their next fixtures in the playoff stage.
Fans will have three more groups starting today in the ESL Pro League Group B. FaZe Clan will face FTW in the opening match.