Image: ESL
No better place to claim your first championship of the year than at the iconic 'Cathedral of Counter-Strike'.
French Counter-Strike 2 powerhouse Team Vitality claimed their first trophy of the year after they bested the world's top-ranked team, Natus Vincere (NAVI), 3-1, to be crowned as champions of IEM Cologne 2024 in the iconic ‘Cathedral of Counter-Strike’ at the LANXESS Arena in Germany on Sunday, August 18.
With this victory, Vitality claimed the grand prize of $400,000 out of the tournament's $1 million prize pool, with superstar Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and in-game leader Dan “apEX" Madesclaire now finally adding the IEM Cologne title that has eluded them for so long to their list of accolades. This also mark's Vitality's first tournament victory since their stellar end to 2023 with back-to-back wins at the BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2023 in November and the BLAST Premier: World Final 2023 in December.
The clash of titans between Vitality and NAVI at this year's IEM Cologne finals was set up after near-perfect runs by both teams in the prior stages of the tournament. The two squads were directly qualified for the Group Stage, with NAVI seeded in Group A while Vitality were in Group B.
Group A saw NAVI cruise through paIN Gaming and Astralis in 2-0 sweeps before defeating SAW in three games to top the group and get seeded directly to the semifinals in the Playoffs. Meanwhile, Vitality also earned their spot in the semis by sweeping FURIA Esports, defeating FaZe Clan in three games, then sweeping MOUZ to finish atop Group B.
The Playoffs then saw Vitality and NAVI sweep SAW and MOUZ, respectively, to meet in the grand finals.
ZywOo spearheads Vitality's 3-1 rout over NAVI
Vitality started the finals strong by winning the first three rounds of game one at Nuke as the CT side. While NAVI were quick to answer with three-straight rounds of their own, Vitality ended the first half with a commanding 8-4 lead. While Vitality started the second half by winning two more rounds, NAVI pulled off a 7-1 run to tie things up at 11-11 after round 22.
While Vitality got within map point in round 23, NAVI clutched the next one to force game one into overtime. NAVI then went 2-1 in the first half of overtime to take the lead at 14-13, only for Vitality to rack off three straight rounds after the side switch to claim their first map of the series with a 16-14 score.
Game two at Dust II saw NAVI get off to a better start than the one they had in Nuke, winning the first three rounds as the T side and finishing the first half up 7-5. NAVI then extended their lead to 11-7 after the first six rounds of the second half before three-straight Vitality round wins narrowed their lead down to 11-10. However, NAVI were able to lock things down by winning the next two rounds and tie up the series at 1-1 with the 13-10 victory in Dust II.
With the championship hanging in the balance, the pivotal third map at Mirage ended up being a triple overtime classic that swung the series in Vitality's favour.
Vitality started the map strong by winning five of the first six rounds on the CT side, only for NAVI to turn the tables and win six straight to end the first half up 7-5. The second half saw Vitality quickly tie things up at 7-7, with the lead swinging back and forth as both teams traded multi-round runs. NAVI then claimed rounds 20 to 22 to get within map point at 12-10, only for Vitality to answer with two straight of their own to force the second overtime period of the finals.
The first two overtime periods saw both teams mirror each other's runs in a series of slugfests and clutches, with Vitality going 2-1, NAVI doing the same, then Vitality winning three-straight, followed by NAVI answering with a three-round streak of their own. NAVI then looked to break the deadlock by going 2-1 and taking a 20-19 lead, only for Vitality to answer with a furious three-round run to claim the pivotal 22-20 victory and a commanding 2-1 series lead.
While Vitality as a whole were firing on all cylinders in Mirage, the difference-maker on this map was definitely ZywOo. Vitality's superstar racked up 36 kills with 11 headshots to go with seven assists against 27 deaths, notably showcasing his skill with the AWP in multiple opening kills and clutch situations.
With NAVI reeling from their game three loss, a surging Vitality proceeded to dominate the first half of game four in Inferno on the T side and cruised to a 10-2 lead. The second half started with Vitality extending their lead to 11-2, but NAVI clawed their way back into contention with six-straight rounds to get within 11-8. However, Vitality answered by moving within a series point by winning round 20.
NAVI looked to extend the series by winning round 21, but Vitality shut them down in the next round to claim Inferno with a 13-9 score and secure the IEM Cologne 2024 championship with a 3-1 finals victory.
ZywOo was far and away the best player of the entire series, notching a whopping 100 total kills with 36 headshots to go with 30 assists against 78 deaths.
The French superstar has long been acclaimed as one of the best players in the history of Counter-Strike, and such a masterful performance against the world's top-ranked team to claim the victory in the Cathedral of Counter-Strike that has long eluded him has only further solidified ZywOo's claim to greatness.
