Vitality crush Evil Geniuses: Fall Groups day one recap
BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023 has finally begun and we've been given our first peeks at some of the new rosters in action.
Today was the turn of Group A, as Vitality faced off against Evil Geniuses and Complexity would do battle with NIP.
New players shone for teams as they made their first statements of intent in this new season, so let's recap all the action of the day.
Evil Geniuses are no match for Vitality
The most one-sided match of the entire event on paper, Vitality versus Evil Geniuses played out exactly as most people would have expected it to.
The BLAST.tv Paris Major champions were on fire, and although the new boys of Evil Geniuses fought bravely, there was very little they could do to stop the might of Vitality from crushing them.
There were some bright spots for EG, junior managed to finish positive across the series, and given that the NA team only managed to win nine rounds across the two maps, that's something to be happy about.
As for Vitality, while they may have expected this win, they will be happy about the performances of flameZ in his debut game. Tied with Magisk for the most amount of frags across the two maps, his aggression on the T side of Vertigo prevented EG from ever feeling secure on their CT side.
A quick 16-6, 16-3, it seems that a change for Vitality hasn't left them any weaker than they were before the break. As for EG, while this was a trial by fire for their new team, they'll be looking for redemption tomorrow.
Photo: Michal KonkolEliGE shines for Complexity
In the second game of the day, Complexity faced off against NIP, and this time it was the NA side who prevailed over their EU opponents.
k0nfig performed best for NIP, top fragging both teams across the series as his 72 kills in the three maps weren't enough to claim his team the victory. On the flipside, hampus and Brollan will be disappointed with their performances, they will need to improve quickly in order for NIP to become a threat.
EliGE was the real star of the show in this series. Debuting for Complexity after eight years with Team Liquid, he showed the first glimpses of him recapturing his old form as he took initiative and aggressive fights all across the deciding map of Overpass.
Having traded map picks and holding onto their composure in map three, Complexity will be happy with the result. A promising start to their new lineup that already suggest they will address their issue of closing out games, we'll see how far that extends when they face one of the best teams in the world, Vitality.
Photo: Stephanie Lindgren