New Kings of Brazil: Vitality win IEM Rio 2023

The Bees are Buzzing in Rio!

Image Source: ESL/Intel Extreme Masters Twitter

Team Vitality has emerged as the champions of IEM Rio 2023, after a thrilling grand final against Heroic. The French-International squad came into the tournament as one of the favorites, with an impressive roster led by star player Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut. The team's dominant performance throughout the event culminated in a hard-fought victory in the final, where they were able to outclass their Danish opponents and secure the trophy. This win marks a significant achievement for Team Vitality, as they continue to establish themselves as one of the top teams in the competitive CS:GO scene.

The Grand Finals:

Although everyone thought it was going to be a gouging 3 map saga, Vitality shut down all doubters and haters as they completely dominated Heroic at 2-0.

1. Vitality removed Ancient
2. Heroic removed Anubis
3. Vitality picked Vertigo
4. Heroic picked Inferno
5. Vitality removed Mirage
6. Heroic removed Nuke
7. Overpass was left over

Map 1: Vertigo

Vitality started off the Grand Finals with a bang, as ZywOo managed to take 4 heads in the first round. Vitality had a decent start after this, managing to take their score up to 7. Heroic did manage to equalize, but it was the Yellow Bees who took the first half 8-7. Vitality had a much better CT-side than Heroic. Magisk put his team on Map Point with an unbreachable defense on the A Bombsite, as they managed to close out the map 16-13.

Map 2: Inferno

Heroic might’ve thought that they would have a better game on their map pick. But it was Vitality again who led the charge. This time, it was worse for the Danes, as Vitality had a complete hold of the map on their CT-side.they ended the first half 10-5. Heroic had a good start in the second half, managing to equalize the score at 12-12. But it all came crashing downVitality got to Map Point first. And it was none other than Spinx who secured the win for Vitality with a 1v2 clutch. Vitality won the map 16-12, and were crowned the new Champions of IEM Rio 2023.

Leading the table was Danish Defence monolith Magisk with 44 kills and a 1.30 rating overall.

ZywOo was named MVP of the tournament, as he managed to get a 1.31 rating across all 15 maps played by Vitality. This is ZywOo’s 14th career MVP, and his 8th LAN MVP.

The Future:

This was Vitality’s first trophy win after ESL Pro League Season 16, and their first Intel Extreme Masters trophy after IEM Winter in 2021. The new additions of Dupreeh and Magisk, as well as Spinx have finally started to show results. Including the addition of Zonic, Vitality have managed to build a squad that every CS GO team should be wary of. They lift the IEM trophy in the Jeunesse Arena, and will go into Paris as a favorite to take it all.