by Heroic and Team Vitality were the clear standout performers during the BLAST.tv Paris Major Legends Stage, and they have now booked their place in the semi-finals after defeating FaZe Clan and Into The Breach in their respective quarter-finals.
Going into the first round of the playoffs, the Heroic and FaZe Clan series was tipped to be one of the best series of the tournament, and it did not disappoint.
The clash between world no. 2 Heroic and world no.3 FaZe was built up to be the clash that Counter-Strike fans deserved at the final CS:GO Major, with two of the best and most consistent teams in the last three years battling it out for one semi-final spot.
The series started on Nuke – map pick of FaZe – where FaZe won five of the first six rounds, however, Heroic took the seventh and began a 13-round win streak, shooting out to a 14-5 lead early on in the second half.
On the back of Robin “ropz” Kool and Helvijs “broky” Saukants coming up clutch in a few rounds, FaZe began one of their trademark comebacks to bring the map score all the way back to 15-14, but Heroic steadied and took the final round, securing a 16-14 win to take the first map of the series.
The series then went to Overpass – map pick of Heroic – and from the very beginning FaZe held seemed to be in control, taking a 10-5 half-time lead.
Once again, one of these teams found 15 early in the second half, but couldn’t finish, as Heroic made a run of their own, winning seven rounds before FaZe eventually won their 16th round and sent us to the third map, Mirage.
After witnessing two cracking clashes on the first two maps, the third was more of a let-down, as Heroic took a dominant 12-3 lead into half-time before wrapping up the series at 16-6.
With the 2-1 series win, Heroic booked their spot in the semi-finals, and await the the winner of the Monte vs GamerLegion series.
The second quarter-final took place later in the day in the Accor Arena, with Team Vitality and their French superstars clashing with surprise Champions Stage quarter-finalists Into The Breach.
As we predicted in our preview of this series, the difference in ability and massive difference in the world rankings would prove too much for the world no.28 Into The Breach, as the world no.1 flexed their muscles in a 2-0 victory.
Things didn’t look great for Vitality on the opening map of Vertigo, as Into The Breach took a 9-6 half-time lead, however, with the help of the home crowd and some top tier teamwork, Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and his squad won 10 of the last 12 rounds and took the map 16-11.
Going into Anubis – map pick of Vitality – Into The Breach put up more of a fight, but on the back of a huge performance by the French superstar AWPer Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, Vitality took the map and booked their place in the semi-finals, awaiting the winner of the Team Liquid vs Apeks series.
The third and fourth quarter-finals will be played on Friday, with the matches and odds listed below.
Quarter-Finals
- Monte (-163.93) vs GamerLegion (+120) | Friday @ 15:00 CET
- Team Liquid (-250) vs Apeks (+175) | Friday @ 19:00 CET
