Team Vitality are your World Champions!
Congratulations to your champions, Team Vitality!
Vitality rolled FaZe Clan over in two freakishly simple maps in the grand final to become undeniable as the champions of CS2.
FaZe had their moments and at times seemed to match the champions, but Vitality's depth and resilience was simply too much to bear.
And for ZywOo, there are too few superlatives in the English language to describe his ability.
"We aren't stopping!" an elated mezii told BLAST.tv. "It's a crazy ride, but we're playing with so much confidence."
A proud apEX spoke to BLAST.tv, too: "we've showed that even with a new player, we can be consistent and good.
"I don't know how we succeeded so much with so much trouble, to be honest".
Credit: Stephanie LindgrenVitality begin their reign
ZywOo cut down three in banana to close out Inferno in iconic fashion.
It was Vitality's pick, and there was no doubting that from start to finish. Spinx won his 1v1 in the opening round, and set up Vitality for two tough retakes in the following rounds.
karrigan was having none of it, though. He found pick after pick, running out B and doubling up and sneaking out into brackets to find a kill on an unsuspecting ZywOo with his hands down his trousers.
Metaphorically.
"All games you play against FaZe are going to be chaotic," mezii explained to us. "Inferno was a bit back-and-forth at the start, but we did a really good job to stay resilient and keep fighting."
It wouldn't happen again, though. ZywOo woke up to stop a broky and karrigan 2v4 after broky forged two close range AWP shots from nowhere with a sexy double of his own.
He and Spinx had brackets on lockdown, and even when they fell, Vitality closed out the half by pelting FaZe with grenades in the retake to turn a 3v2 into a very simple 3v1.
Vitality were up 8-4 at the half, and quickly made that 10 after flameZ, ironically, kept his cool against frozen and called the Slovakian's bluff defuse. Scrawny dubbed it 'the song of ice and fire', and we love that.
Having found just one kill 'til round 17, rain had been having more than just a tough time - so a triple kill in banana could not have come earlier. Sadly for him, he found himself on the end of a ZywOo howitzer just one round later.
ZywOo hopped up on the logs to rip off two heads before strolling into site and nailing karrigan too, finishing the game with a fourth headshot for good measure.
Naughty.
Credit: Stephanie LindgrenThe lap of honour
mezii had been quiet on map one, but he started map two on fire with back-to-back triples to put Vitality ahead by two to start off Nuke.
FaZe, though, are not easy to beat. ropz stepped up to the plate and felled mezii on the ramp a few rounds later, before karrigan called a beautiful ramp crunch that pulled the defence apart.
FaZe won five in a row, and Vitality needed an adjustment. They switched to a more passive set-up and it paid immediate dividends, as ZywOo denied a rain 1v3 attempt to post their third round.
He then noscoped through the double doors on B for four, and did it again for five, dancing in and out before drilling the door to broky's midriff in a round that resembled Apex Legends more than it did CS2.
It was a solid recovery to eventually lead at the half, but broky's Dual Berettas triple put FaZe back in control - control that they would quickly lose.
Vitality picked off rain outside and apEX assassinated the rotator, and from there it felt inevitable.
There was a back and forth, but FaZe lost a 5v3 in round 19 to put Vitality on championship point, and flameZ hit a scorcher onto rain outside to set Vitality up for their trophy lift.
Vitality were unstoppable, and are your World Champions for 2023!
"Well, for now I'm not going to think about [2024], I'm going to think about relaxing!"
You've earnt it, apEX.