Vitality eliminate Grayhound to keep IEM Rio Major run alive

Vitality staved off an early exit from the IEM Rio Major by besting Grayhound in a swift two-map series, winning Inferno 16-6 and Mirage 16-12 to advance to the 2-2 pool of the Challengers Stage.

The European mix, who recently fell down to the No. 2 spot on the world ranking, relied heavily on Mathieu “⁠ZywOo⁠” Herbaut to get them over the line, with the Frenchman putting up a server-high 1.56 rating as well as being a constant headache for the Australians on Mirage. Vitality are now one best-of-three away from qualifying for the Legends Stage of IEM Rio 2022, a must-win game for a team that was deemed to be one of the favourites heading into the tournament.

Grayhound, meanwhile, head home from Rio de Janeiro with a 1-3 record. The squad notably upset Cloud9 on the first day of play to send the world’s fifth-best team down to the 0-2 pool, but could do little to put up similar displays in their other games, where they failed to reach double digits all but once.

The action between the two teams got started on Grayhound‘s pick of Inferno, with the Australians starting their T-side effort off on the right foot by nabbing the pistol round. Vitality were quick to answer back, however, overturning the initial setback with a stalwart defensive line of their own to lead 6-2. A force-buy ace by Alistair “⁠aliStair⁠” Johnston in the ninth round got Grayhound fired up, but this only served to frustrate their European counterparts, who doubled down with a renewed sense of lethality to lead comfortably, 11-4, at the interval.

Vitality‘s dominance in the server continued when play resumed, with the Dan “⁠apEX⁠” Madesclaire-led lineup stringing together three rounds right off the bat to extend their advantage to 14-4. The Australians did win a couple of lone rounds in the dying stages of the map to show signs of life, but the Europeans proved far too much to handle, eventually putting things to bed with a rather one-sided 16-6 scoreline.

Things soon moved over to Mirage for the second map of the series, where Grayhound looked more at home, adding three rounds to the scoreboard after brushing aside Vitality‘s pistol-round win. The Australian outfit were unable to build on this, though, as Vitality chained together eight rounds on the offense to boast a 9-4 advantage on the T-side. Grayhound refused to roll over in spite of the less-than-ideal deficit, adding two rounds — including a 3vs4 retake on the B site — towards the half’s end to trail by just three rounds at the side swap.

A three-round spree by Vitality got the second half going, but Grayhound were spurred on by Declan “⁠Vexite⁠” Portelli‘s proactive T-side efforts and quickly closed the gap, a five-round sequence by the Australian roster bringing the squad back to a one round deficit, 11-12. Alas, Vitality‘s prowess in the server shined through, with the ESL Pro League Season 16 champions nabbing four of the ensuing five rounds to lock in Mirage 16-12 and win the series 2-0.