Vitality wins the IEM Cologne 2024 finals over NaVi

Vitality have secured the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2024 title! After a thrilling finals against reigning Major champions Natus Vincere, the international squad emerged victorious with a dominant showing on Inferno to close out IEM Cologne 2024. This marks the first trophy for Vitality in 2024, after many months of regular playoffs appearances.

Before the game began, the desk was perplexed by what the teams' veto was going to look like. The two international squads feature a large amount of overlap in their pool, and as such could go anywhere as their strength picks. NaVi chose to start their series off on Nuke, where Aleksib's calling has been quite solid so far. Meanwhile Vitality chose Dust2 as their home map after their dominant win over SAW.

Nuke started off with iM's USP harkening back to Nikola "NiKo" Kovač's disastrous Deagle shot at the PGL Major Stockholm 2021. That gave Vitality the pistol conversion to start off the IEM Cologne 2024 Finals, while NaVi were forced into eco rounds. Despite iM's brilliant deagle play, NaVi only found success once guns came out.

Tied 3-3, NaVi were still feeling the absence of b1t on the attack, as Vitality managed to deny the Ukrainian's entry regularly. The potential MVP of IEM Cologne 2024, needed to show up to the Finals quickly. apEX and co. quickly found themselves in control of the half, despite iM's best attempts. And the Vitality side took 5 out of the final 6 to close the half out.

Pistol win extended that lead even further, but Aleksib finally got the CT-side in control. Slowly but surely the team built back into the half, finally tying it up at 11-11. But with apEX picking up impact frags, Vitality took match point first. Still NaVi managed to force overtime, despite the Frenchman's entry prowess.

NaVi's CT side in OT got the better of Vitality, but their T side was comparatively toothless. So their 14-13 lead quickly fell by the wayside as Vitality's defence locked in the first map at the IEM Cologne 2024 finals.

A fragging classic, Dust2 finally woke b1t up. The headhunter started things off with two clinical headshots to open the pistol. And that was converted into a quick 3-0 lead for NaVi. jL's double B entries should've spelt a fourth, but Vitality managed to retake the notoriously difficult site to take their first. AWP out for ZywOo, and aggression from the Israeli duo meant NaVi had nowhere to go in round 5.

A force buy around saved rifles was all NaVi could muster in round 6. After looking for openings across the map, NaVi broke into the B site, and set up in a 2v2. Aleksib was the hero of the round, shutting down the two CTs and bringing home a fourth round with his saved AK.

Vitality puzzled the casters with their decision to stack B, completely giving over the A site. Just when the economy would have run away from Vitality, ZywOo handed them a win with nothing but a Deagle in his hands. Killing 4 Ts singlehandedly, he locked in the B retake. He then followed that up with this beautiful AWP play on long.

The French superstar was absolutely on fire, winning out round after round for his squad. Vitality had the weaponry advantage in the final round of the half. But a short execute and flameZ's failed spraydown, meant NaVi took a minor lead going into the second half.

NaVi's CT side saw B-site be attacked almost every single round. With the b1t-jL duo not finding its footing, Aleksib was stuck in retake simulator. But NaVi pulled it off, quickly taking an 11-7 lead. But when the B-site fell for the third time, it was Vitality taking the win. After flameZ got crouchbugged, Map on the line, B was under attack once again, but this time b1t stood strong and closed out the map.

Mirage started off with another NaVi pistol win, but Vitality answered back quickly. Both teams came in with streaks of wins on the map, but it was Vitality's CT side taking early wins as NaVi struggled for finances. Now back in form, b1t cracked open the B site in round 8 for NaVi's third.

b1t followed it up with an opening on A, and iM cleaned it up forcing a save. apEX was clearly frustrated on the camera, and jL's mid openings probably did nothing to soothe him as he was shut out of round 10. SPUNJ's "He's having to take the risks" perfectly summarized what apEX was doing as Vitality continued to sink. NaVi took the half 7-5 with a gorgeous iM clutch.

Vitality took the pistol conversion this time, but NaVi were quicker to answer, keeping the lead throughout. iM may have out-clutched flameZ in round 16, but the young gun answered back with a triple on the A-site, allowing his team to take the lead against just pistols. Guns back out, jL and iM found the perfect timing in mid to shut down apEX's crew and take their tenth.

B1ad3 immediately called a timeout to calm his troops down. But it was iM in back to back rounds to hold Vitality at an arms length from any bombsite. NaVi found themselves on the verge of taking their second map of the IEM Cologne 2024 finals. All that stood before them was a couple of Galils and a single ZywOo AK. But mezii's Galil capitalized on w0nderful's AWP miss and flameZ shut down an aggressive mid play, sending Mirage to Overtime.

w0nderful had been missing on the NaVi CT side, but in OT the Ukrainian sniper stepped up round after round. But after both rounds went down to a 1v1, it was Spinx and mezii coming out on top. apEX then turned on his sneak ability, hiding under palace to lock in map point. Round 29 was the most bizarre affair, as iM found the gap into B, but a mezii double nearly cancelled that out. But double overtime was on the menu as NaVi matched Vitality's 15.

It was all ZywOo to keep Vitality ahead, as w0nderful's woes continued. The French AWPer led Vitality to a perfect half, as NaVi could find no counter. If Vitality's CT side was good, NaVi's was unbreakable. Spinx nearly turned around a 1v4, but w0nderful was not about to let his team down, as he held his nerve.

Vitality were the first to find a T-side round, despite jL's double kill from underpass. What followed was one of the most entertaining Counter-Strike 2 rounds. Vitality opened with an advantage over w0nderful, before the B defence took a 4v3 advantage for NaVi. That advantage was quickly thrown, but b1t apparently didn't get the memo to save. So the Ukrainian headshot machine, smashed through the B postplant and gave NaVi their 20th round of Mirage. Finally, Vitality made it through on their CT side to close the map out.

After three exhilaratingly back and forth maps, Inferno threw the whole script out of the window. Vitality started off strong, and just kept on hammering down NaVi. NaVi's defence was a mere speedbump in the path of Vitality, picking up just two rounds across the first half. Meanwhile flameZ was on fire and apEX was leading from the front. All hope seemed lost for NaVi.

NaVi found the advantage on the A site, but one by one everyone threw the round away, extending Vitality's lead to 11-3. Finally, thanks to a jL 1v1 against apEX, NaVi showed their first glimpse of life. That spurred on 3 rounds in a row as Vitality awaited a full buy in round 17.

Whatever plan XTQZZ was hoping to bring into the gun round, immediately was thrown out of Apartments as b1t popped two heads down the corridor. Aleksib followed that up with a double entry of his own, and NaVi were truly back in this game.

b1t picked up another round in a similar fashion, but Vitality were quick to remind NaVi of what the scoreboard said. With just a ZywOo AWP, and mezii's heroics, the team locked up championship point. Inches away from taking the IEM Cologne 2024 Grand Finals. NaVi survived a bit longer, but it was all in vain. Vitality took the IEM Cologne 2024 Championship, with a 13-9 win.

Vitality have finally managed to win in the Cathedral of Counter-Strike. One of the greatest achievements for an organization in CS, this is the perfect way for the team to show they can still compete with the best, as everyone starts to prep for the upcoming Shaghai Major. For apEX, this is a 10-year long journey coming to a fruitful close. For ZywOo, this is his first prestige event win where he absolutely dominated across the board. The AWP-wielding phenom has just added the ultimate achievement to his resume!

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