Vitality Eliminates 9z 2-0 at BLAST Open Porto

At BLAST Open Porto in Porto, Vitality eliminated 9z 2–0 during Group B lower-bracket play, winning Dust2 13–2 and Nuke 13–6. The result sends 9z home in 13th–16th place; Vitality will face the loser of Legacy vs Falcons.

The match was Justinas “jL” Lekavicius’s first appearance as a stand-in for William “mezii” Merriman. Vitality had dropped an earlier 0–2 match to Inner Circle and entered the lower bracket following that loss.

On Dust2 Vitality built a 10–2 halftime lead and closed the map 13–2. jL posted 21 kills and six deaths on Dust2 with a 2.49 map rating. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut recorded a 1.84 rating on the map.

Nuke began with Vitality up 4–0 before 9z recovered to tie 6–6 at halftime. After the side switch Vitality won seven rounds in a row to finish 13–6. ZywOo had 13 kills and one death during that final stretch.

Across both maps jL finished with 38 kills and a 1.96 series rating; ZywOo had 37 kills and a 1.82 rating. Shahar “flameZ” Shushan had 27 kills and Robin “ropz” Kool recorded 19 for Vitality.

For 9z, Franco “dgt” Garcia led with 22 kills, Luciano “luchov” Herrera had 21, Matias “HUASOPEEK” Ibañez Hernandez 17, Maximiliano “max” Gonzalez 17 and Ignacio “meyern” Meyer 18. The South American side leaves the event in 13th–16th place.

Vitality will meet the loser of Legacy vs Falcons in the lower bracket; a loss there would eliminate them from the tournament.