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Vitality crowned BLAST Fall Premier 2020 Champions

Team Vitality has walked away with the BLAST Fall Premier 2020 trophy after taking down Astralis in the Grand Final. Vitality seems to have peaked at the right time, also showing the world that a proper six-man roster can be incorporated to take home trophies. With the win, the team earns $225,000 USD and has huge momentum to the final event of the year, the IEM Global Final.

The Playoff Run

The French side found their path to the Finals, similarly to how easy they recently found their path to the IEM Beijing Finals and their group showing. The side moved through the Upper Bracket with glee, taking down a recently resurged mousesports and Natus Vincere. The best part about this is that Na’Vi was looking like a world number one with the way the team was on fire.

The mouse series was the opening stomp that we expect from Vitality. Mousesports capitulated fairly early on in the series, going down 0-2 with a 16-7 loss on inferno and 16-8 on Dust II. Moving on, Team Vitality had a real fight against the best CIS team in Natus Vincere. While the score reads 2-0 for Vitality, both maps did go to overtime. Vitality had to win the map 19-15. On the other hand, Vitality won 19-17 on Dust II, showing it was the final round of overtime that mattered. Furthermore, the final round of that series was insane. There were quality spray transfers, pinpoint accuracy and amazing utility use from both sides. However, Vitality somehow secured the map victory despite all their players being dead. Mind-blowing!

One of the most memorable moments of CS:GO in 2020

With the Upper Bracket journey almost over, they met BIG in the Upper Bracket Final, where they achieved a 2-1 victory. For Vitality, this was a bit of a surprise, since they lost the first map of the series on Vertigo, 16-9, a map Vitality seem competent on. However, Vitality came back stronger with an unbelievable 16-1 on inferno, followed by a 16-2 series on Dust II. What is interesting about this is that while Mathieu ” ZywOo” Herbaut was Vitality’s most consistent performer, the in-game leader of Dan “apEX” Madesclaire performed admirably. ApEX achieved a 1.84 rating on Inferno, which isn’t something you see from an in-game leader every day.

The Final

Vitality eagerly awaited their opponent from the Lower Bracket. Out of the potential opponents, it was BIG Clan, Astralis, and Natus Vincere. But the story of the Lower Bracket was Natus Vincere losing to Astralis, which is a shame. Na’Vi was forced to use a sub for map one, tagging in Valerii “B1T” Vakhovskyi from there Na’Vi junior team. This situation hurt Na’Vi as the lower Bracket Buff Astralis recently gets seems to drive them to Finals without fail. Astralis won Inferno 16-11 and Train 16-7, a map Na’Vi are normally amazing on. This was the trend for the story, as Astralis beat BIG 2-0. winning Nuke 16-14 and then Dust 16-6.

With the opponent decided, it was a tense final between both teams. The opening match saw Vitality pull out what feels like a one-sided classic. Vitality battered Astralis in a 16-4 Vertigo, with ZywOo, not even the best player on the map. Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier dominated on a 2.12 rating with le tank Cédric “Rpk” Guipouy also dominating in his own right.

With that stomp set, the Danes woke up and returned for the second map. Nuke was the map of choice with Astralis beginning to take the lead from the get-go. They started off on the CT side and got 11 rounds. This seemed done and suited considering that Nuke is one of the popular maps for every team. However, Vitality made a great CT half off their own, but Astralis got three round wins in a row to cement themselves as the map two winners.

The final map of inferno once again saw Vitality gain a strong round. Vitality won 16-5 with everyone on Vitality popping off. One of the more notable players going off was once again Vitality’s best player in the world ZywOo and RPK popping off once again. With this result, Vitality is the BLAST Fall Premier 2020 Champions.

He certainly rolled back the years.

The end of 2020

With Vitality winning yet another trophy, they line themselves up well for the last event of the year, the IEM Global Finals. Here both Astralis and Vitality are set for potentially a rematch as these two teams are the finalists of the last few events they both attended. It will certainly be interesting to see who prevails over there.

Furthermore, one of BLAST’s analysts gave us a rundown of what the event meant for CS:GO at the present. These are solid narrative points as we watch the end of year event kick-off on the 15th December.

The narrative points to watch for the end of 2020 and the start of 2021

Stay tuned to Dartfrog for all the latest news and analysis on CS:GO and follow us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch.  Image via BLAST.

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Heroic topple Vitality at DreamHack Open Fall 2020

Heroic continue their rise to the top of European CS:GO as the Danish roster took down Vitality in a full best-of-five series to win DreamHack Open Fall 2020. This is the second time that Heroic has taken down Vitality in a Grand Final, as they did so at ESL One Cologne. With the victory, Heroic earn themselves $33,000 USD and a trip to the IEM Global Challenge in December. Let’s take a look at how they won DreamHack Open Fall 2020 and all the big storylines to come out of the event.

The Road to the Championship

Heroic had no right to win the tournament the way they started. The side started off the event poorly, leaving the group with a 1-2 scoreline, only beating out Endpoint to survive the Group Stage, with G2 and Astralis coming out ahead above them.

With that Group Stage result, they began their journey through the Lower Bracket playoffs where they would be forged through the flames of war.

The start of the journey began with eliminating North from the event in a 2-0 series. The first map was too close with Nuke heading to Heroic 22-20. The series closed on Vertigo with a 16-10 win. Heroic then moved on to face Sprout, which ended 2-1. The results of that series was 16-11 on Mirage, 10-16 on Train, and 16-12 on Nuke.

Although the Danes picked themselves up there and really began elevating their game. With the weaker teams eliminated, they were onto the big guns of BIG. Big and Heroic are no strangers to each other, with both teams rising up the World rankings in 2020. The series was a banger as expected, with the result going 2-1 to Heroic. Vertigo was won 16-5, with Big returning to stomp in a 16-8 Mirage win. The decider followed the stomping ground of a 16-5 victory for Heroic.

The following series was a sign of the improvement the team made as they took down NiP and then Astralis. Both series had close maps, losses and big wins. But these themes were not enough to stop Heroic. Both series went 2-1 to Heroic, which is a sign of that Heroic’s run has been one of continuous improvement with their backs against the wall. Not to mention that different player’s coming in clutch at the right time.

The Danish derby is one of the best narratives in CS:GO right now

The Finals

With the victory against Astralis in the final round of the Lower Bracket, they took on Vitality, who had a perfect run through the event. Despite a perfect run through DreamHack Open Fall 2020, Heroic managed to clinch the series 3-2. The thing about this series is that both teams put in the work to claim the trophy, however, fatigue seems to have got to Vitality since their game slipped at the very end.

Vitality started off the series with an overpass victory. Vitality earned the win after beating Heroic 19-17. The disappointing part of about this is that vitality was 14-7 at one point. But clutches from all members on the Heroic side was key to cementing overtime comebacks.

Niko with a great clutch to get them back in the game

Nuke too was an overtime battle, with both teams battling with intense plays and set pieces. The battle came to an end when Heroic won yet another 22-20 on Nuke, proving they can keep it cool on one of CS:GO’s hottest maps.

Things started cooling off come the third map, as Heroic managed to claim a win on Inferno 16-11. With the fatigue and clear map wins moving in, Vitality responded with a 16-10 Vertigo win of their own. However, it seemed like the fatigue had finally got to the teams. After an intense series, Vitality appeared to capitulate, as Heroic won the final map of Mirage 16-7 and took home the trophy.

Vitality has amazing moments of their own this series.

The Narratives

Through DreamHack Open Fall 2020, we have seen strong narratives play out. One of the biggest storylines is this is Vitality’s fourth Grand Final, yet they have failed to pick up a trophy. The roster is now heading into its six-man roster transition. Perhaps this is exactly what the roster needs to get a trophy. The French side has everything it needs to win, yet it isn’t picking the vital wins when it matters. Hopefully, the side gets their act together, otherwise, it will be awkward cliff note for one of the best teams in the world.

One the other hand, Astralis and Heroic are becoming the hottest rivalry in CS:GO. Both teams are trading series wins, and the results are pretty close with each team taking a series off each other every event. Both teams went 1-1 this event, which is a sign of how competitive both teams are. Also, Casper “cadiaN” Møller is achieving a 1.3 rating against teams in the top 5. It is a sign that the Danish scene is improving and Astralis has some serious competition ahead of itself as the Danish scene grows stronger.

Stay tuned to Dartfrog for all the latest news and analysis on CS:GO and follow us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch.  Image via Heroic.

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ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe – The Group Stage winners

The ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe Group Stages are over. The top four teams from each group are decided and will head to the quarterfinals beginning on 29 September. With that said, let us take a look at the eight teams who made it out of the Groups.

Group A

Over in Group A, Natus Vincere was the most consistent team in the ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe. The team was constantly in the top two teams of the Group with a first-place finish by the end of Group A. The only team to beat them in their group was ENCE, who was tied first place with Na’Vi until they fell off in the final week. For Natus Vincere, this a huge deal after their recent tournaments has been sub-par considering their standard. The Group Stage of the EPL has woke them up into the giants we know they are.

As mentioned in the week before, Group A was becoming a lot tenser by the second week. The likes of Heroic, G2, OG and BIG were climbing and the battle for the three other seeds in Group A was tough. In the end, Heroic and BIG grew into the role of quarterfinalist, with BIG even knocking ENCE out of the top two to take the second-place group finish.

Heroic’s win over OG sent them to the quarterfinals

Group B

Over in Group B, Astralis came from being a bottom team to a top team in the space of two weeks. They are the most improved team in the ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe league by far. In Week Two, Astralis got their in-game leader, Lukas “Gla1ve” Rossander back. Every other game they rotated Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen Patrick “es3tag” Hansen, which seemed to have worked. By the end of the Group Stage, Astralis sit in first place with a 6-1 record, just like Natus Vincere in Group A.

As for Group B, it was rather close as it was all the way through the group stage. Complexity fell off as the favourites for Group A in the final week as mousesports played upset and took the world number five down ina 2-0 series. Moving on, FaZe Clan somehow managed a victory over them, making space for Astralis to pass them. With mousesports clutch win, they managed to keep them in the playoffs race before locking it in with a win over Vitality. Surprisingly, Team Spirit made it through tho the quarter-finals after a great series. They made their way into the groups after their victory over mousesports in the final week.

mousesports getting in a key round which leads to a 2-0 series over Vitality

Quarters

On the 29th September, Natus Vincere will play mousesports in the first quarter-finals of the day. Moving on, Complexity and ENCE will battle in the following series. BIG and Team Spirit are the third matchup of the day with Astralis and Heroic closing the day with a Danish darby. The losers of these series will play on 30th September in the Lower Bracket Round One elimination matches. The action is expected to kick off at 14:00 CEST for both days.

Stay tuned to Dartfrog for all the latest news and analysis on CS:GO and follow us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch.

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ESL Pro League Season 12 Week 2 Europe – Complexity undefeated

The second week of ESL Pro League 12 is over and Complexity is on top of the world. The masters of Group B gained another two series victories in ESL Pro League Europe Week 2. Furthermore, Group A sees ENCE and Na’Vi at the top, but three key victories from Heroic has seen them get into a strong position heading into Week 3 of the Groups.

Group A

In Group A, ENCE and Na’Vi remain in as the top two teams in the group, each with a 4-1 scoreline. ENCE lost their first match this week against last-place GODSENT, bringing them back in line with Natus Vincere. On the other hand, Na’Vi earned two victories in Week 2, one against AGO and the other against OG. Although, Na’Vi had to earn their victory against OG, as the series went to the third map and they only won the decider on Nuke 16-14.

The more interesting narrative in Group A comes from the middle of the pack. Heroic, BIG, G2 Esports, and OG are 3-2 or 2-3, showing how competitive the third week is likely to be. Heroic’s 3-0 score in Week two comes after they had a great three-game series against G2 Esports, a close three-game series against BIG, and another close series against GODSENT. Two of these three victories are clutch results for Heroic as they took down two teams they are in direct contest with. The best thing is this makes them third in the group standings as they hold the head-to-head against BIG. Out of the mid-table, the ESL One Cologne Champions, Heroic, seem the likeliest candidate for advancing into the quarter-finals.

Looking ahead to Week 3, G2 and OG have some difficult games as they both have to take on ENCE and Natus Vincere – the top two of the group. G2 and OG need to put on a stellar show because their chances at advancing into the top four of the groups are slimming based on current results in this group.

Plays like this are what got Heroic a juicy 3-0 score.

Group B

On the other side of the European event, Complexity is dominating their opponents in Group B. Complexity had yet another fantastic week, taking down the likes of Team Spirit and Fnatic. However, Complexity went from two 2-0 victories in Week 1 to two 2-1 victories in Week two. Complexity’s grasp may be slipping after their star performance against Astralis and NiP in the ESL Pro League Europe Week 2. In Week 3, Complexity has three series to play against teams like mousesports, Vitality, and FaZe. The likes of mousesports and Vitality may give Complexity a proper good go since both teams are performing in ESL Pro League Season 12.

Complexity had to put in the work to take the series victory against Fnatic.

Another important aspect of Group B is the ability for any team to miss the quarters. As it stands, mousesports and Fnatic are the two mid-table teams in position to escape Group B. Although, almost every team outside the top two are 2-2, with the exceptions of NiP’s 1-3 score and FaZe’s 0-4 score. Also, every team has to play three games in Week 3, so whoever escapes Group B is the better team.

Stay tuned to Dartfrog for all the latest news and analysis on CS:GO and follow us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch. Image via BLAST.

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ESL One Cologne 2020 Europe – Who made it out?

ESL One Cologne 2020 Europe is now halfway through with the Group Stages concluding 26th August 2020. The event has had a long group sage, with two groups going through a losers bracket round for 16 teams. With the dust settled, only eight teams remain heading into the playoffs. Let’s take a look at the story so far.

Group A Upper Bracket

Despite ESL One Cologne 2020 Europe being online, the magic of the event still exists. In a twist of fate, Sprout was surprisingly the first team to make it out of Group A. They beat teams like BIG, and OG to make it out of the group in the Upper Bracket. In both situations, Sprout was definitely the underdog in those scenarios. They somehow manage to compete against the world number 1 in BIG really close, winning 16-12 on Mirage then 19-16 on Nuke. The OG series was much closer, beating OG 16-9 on Train, then losing 16-13 on Mirage before winning 16-3 on Nuke. This is exactly the magic events like these can bring out in teams.

Read More: BIG exit ESL One Cologne 2020 Europe in joint last place.

On the other hand, Complexity had a great showing. This is a team that has been growing ever more slowly throughout the year, and this Group is a sign of their success. They began the event with a swift 2-0 over MAD Lions winning Overpass 16-3 then going 22-20 on Nuke. Then the surprise came against Natus Vincere, were they won 16-9 on Dust II and 16-8 on Nuke.

blameF showing how good Complexity are in 2020

Group A Lower Bracket

Moving into the Lower Bracket, Ninjas in Pyjamas had a storyline to follow. They too managed to beat BIG in the first round of the Lower Bracket and Na’Vi in the second round of the Lower Bracket. The big series finished 2-1, and NiP had to play catch up for most of the series. BIG won the first map on Vertigo 16-5, so NiP gave it their all on Nuke to win 28-26. Finally, NiP won Mirage 16-7. But the real surprise came from Na’Vi. NiP beat Na’Vi on Overpass 16-9 followed by a thrashing on Train 16-3. Both of these results are quite surprising, considering the talent in Na’Vi. Either way, congrats to NiP for making it through a difficult Lower Bracket.

NiP had a stunning performance against Natus Vincere.

OG had a relatively short run in the Lower Bracket after only fighting through one round against MAD Lions. As expected, OG mad quick work of MAD Lions with 16-10 victory on Nuke and 16-9 on Dust II.

Group B Upper Bracket

Astralis has come into ESL Once Cologne 2020 Europe with an almost brand-new team. The roster has two stand-ins with Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen and Patrick “es3tag” Hansen temporarily standing in for sickness and leave. Considering the previous stand-in results for Astralis, these two players have put in work so far. Astralis dismantled Fnatic 16-5 on Nuke and 19-17 on Train. Moving on, they trashed Vitality 16-8 on Nuke and 16-7 on Dust II. Astralis has new life with their upcoming stars on their roster.

In the closest Upper Bracket Round yet, G2 Esports pulled through. G2 Esports warmup was against MiBR who they put to bed instantly. G2 won Vertigo 16-2 and Inferno 16-4. Their real challenge was against Heroic, which brought them to the edge. Heroic won Nuke 16-7, with G2 Esports winning Vertigo 16-7 and Mirage 19-17. Heroic was in the lead for the most part of Mirage but G2 pulled through (we think KennyS really wanted to watch the PSG Champions League Final match).

AmaNEK with the insane clutch to get G2 the round.

Group B Lower Bracket

The Group B Lower Bracket has the same level of excitement and disappointment as Group A. Heroic popped a NiP here by taking down Fnatic 2-0. Both Vertigo and Overpass went to Heroic 16-11. This is rather disappointing, especially with Fnatic being as good as they were at the start of the year.

Meanwhile, Vitality and FaZe had yet another amazing series against each other. Vitality managed to pull through 2-0 in the series, but the results were super close. Vitality won Dust II 19-16, and won Nuke 16-14. This is exactly the high stakes action we want from ESL Once Cologne 2020 Europe

Team Vitality had some great T side Nuke rounds.

With the Group Stages done, ESL One Cologne 2020 Europe continues with the playoffs. The remaining teams are competing in the playoffs from Thursday 27th August to championship Sunday on 30th August.

Stay tuned to Dartfrog for all the latest news and analysis on CS:GO and follow us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch. Image via ESL.

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NiP eliminate BIG from ESL One Cologne

Ninjas in Pyjamas have eliminated BIG from ESL One Cologne Online – Europe. The Swedes survive the Lower Bracker Round One, advancing further into the tournament. Meanwhile, BIG can no longer have their 2018 dream avenged as they leave the tournament losing two different matchups against Sprout and NiP.

BIG Clan are one of the biggest teams in 2020. Their journey through the online era has been great for the German side. They continuously upset some of the major teams throughout the year and even came first-place finishes by beating teams like G2 in Grand Finals. Their consistent results meant that BIG began to reign in their own era in CS:GO, becoming world number one.

Coming out of the player break, it looked like BIG was set for another great online period. BIG’s first tournament back out of the player break was in DreamHack Open Summer. BIG emerged victorious, absolutely shutting down Heroic in the finals. With that momentum, it looked like they were set to enter ESL One Cologne still on form.

However, things did not go to plan for BIG. In the first round, they were surprisingly upset 2-0 by the fellow German side, Sprout. That series was super close, with Sprout taking the first map 16:12, while the second map was only won in overtime 19:16.

How NiP eliminated BIG in the Lower Bracket

In their next series, NIP faced BIG in the Lower Bracket. BIG started off strong, winning their first map of the tournament on Vertigo 16-5. The strong BIG we expect had finally turned up. Although that was to be their last great showing of the event.

Ninjas in Pyjamas began to wake up on the second map of Nuke. The Swedes’ CT side was not a desirable showing, but their T-side began to show promise. The game became tied at 10-10, with NiP snowballing themselves to 14 before BIG caught up. With a surprise, NIP secured their 15th with an eco round. Eventually BIG settled their CT side dominance on Nuke by tying the map. The game went on for several overtimes before NiP secured the win 28-26.

syrsoN kept BIG’s dreams alive in overtime but it wasn’t enough to get the win.

Mirage was the final map for the two teams, and NiP tore through their opposition. NiP had a few weak rounds straight out of the gates, but they found themselves returning to form. By round 8, BIG needed a call out, but it was not enough to slow NiP down. NiP ended the half 11-4. Moving into the other half, BIG found some life, but NiP closed the map and series 16-7.

With that result, the world number one exists their home ground event tied for last place in Europe. ESL One Cologne is the tournament of upsets and it is only day three. The BIG upset is surely the biggest one so far, but no doubt there are more yet to come.

Stay tuned to Dartfrog for all the latest news and analysis on CS:GO and follow us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch. Image via StarLadder.