ZywOo was firing on all cylinders as Vitality completed an improbable comeback against FaZe on Anubis in a series that would decide the top seed of Group C in the ESL Pro League. Though the second map, Nuke, was also a close affair, the French-Danish CS:GO mix roster got over the line in another overtime, earning themselves a straight spot in the quarterfinal even as they had to rely on Audric “JACKZ” Jug as a stand-in.
FaZe have been far from their imperious best ever since last year’s player break, and though they still display the same level of brilliant dominance in the occasional flashes, it’s not been happening often enough to earn them championship titles. After swiftly dispatching Rooster and NiP on their way to the upper bracket decider match, they had to square off against last season’s winners, Team Vitality.
Related: ESL Pro League CS:GO season 17: Scores, brackets and results
ZywOo and co. brought JACKZ along for the ride as a temporary replacement for dupreeh, who’s recently born child is keeping him away from the servers for a while. The series began on Anubis, the map choice of Vitality. Early on, the pick seemed like a blunder of epic proportions as FaZe romped to a 14-1 lead on the T side, only losing round 9 along the way. However, Vitality were able to repeat the very same feat, and were even threatening to complete the clean sweep until karrigan and co. picked up their solitary CT win in round 18.
As the map went to overtime, FaZe were finally able to pick up another CT round, but it was too late to secure the win in regulation. Vitality followed with four straight round wins of their own to justify their map pick, completing a comeback for the ages.
Nuke would go on to prove just how closely matched the two teams are at this moment, at least on form. FaZe started strong on the T side, picking up three straight rounds, but they then faltered against an imperious ZywOo on the defense, scoring only one more win until the end of the half. Though they did put up a strong defense on their own, mounting a successful comeback themselves to ensure another overtime in this series, ZywOo and JACKZ continued to stand strong, and Vitality once again posted four straight round wins in overtime, shutting FaZe down completely to earn themselves a 2-0 win and a direct qualification to the quarterfinals.
Even with this defeat, FaZe will proceed to the playoffs, albeit as a high seed in the round of 12. With paiN Gaming as the surprise qualifier in the mid bracket, all that’s left to figure out in Group C is whether NiP or 00 Nation will earn themselves the final spot in the knockout round.
