Vitality won a long and entertaining battle against the reigning Major champions to secure their in-game leader’s first big title in the Cathedral of Counter-Strike. It was a fantastic match featuring great strategy and raw aim in equal measure, with ZywOo’s AWPing prowess proving the difference in a close-fought series.

It may not have gone to five maps, but it was a titanic clash of two evenly-matched sides, as NAVI and Vitality locked horns in the grand final of IEM Cologne. It was the first time the prestigious tournament was played on CS2, and a lot has changed—a year ago, s1mple was still on NAVI’s active roster, and zonic was still coaching Vitality—but the level of excellence on display was once again worthy of the spectacle in the Cathedral of CS.

ApEX fist bumping his teammates after a game at the Major.
Finally, he made it. Photo by Stephanie Lindgren via PGL

ApEX, Vitality’s in-game leader, has come agonizingly close in this venue on two separate occasions (in 2015 and 2019) but the third time proved the charm for the combative Frenchman. Heading into the CS2 final, it was his side with the more complete displays; NAVI’s coach went on the record after their semifinals win to suggest they “needed to show a much better game” if they wanted a real chance at the title.

They did just that, but it ultimately wasn’t enough. It was a series defined by the narrowest of margins, with two maps going to overtime and one decided by just three points. The highlight was the third game on Mirage; a battle between two teams with monstrously strong records on the map, which went all the way to 22-20, ultimately in Vitality’s favor. Then, it was all raw aim and conversions as they went on to take Inferno to close out the series.

NAVI’s w0nderful will wonder what could have been had he been able to capitalize on big opportunities on Mirage, where he and his team left multiple map points unconverted. It was the difference between him and ZywOo on the big green in the numbers, with the French star going 100-78 across the series to the young Ukrainian’s 75-75.

Neither team will be involved in the upcoming BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, having already qualified for the seasonal CS2 Final—their next assignment will now be the next season of ESL Pro League instead, starting Tuesday, Sept. 3.