Vitality have won the 2019 edition of EPICENTER after defeating mousesports in a three-map thriller grand final (2-1; Inferno 16-19, Mirage 16-12, Nuke 16-9).
Inferno was the map that kicked off the series with Mousesports on the CT side as the Frenchmen went all-in with their guns blazing hence taking an early lead of 3-0 before the duo of Woxic and Karrigan gunned down Alex “ALEX” McMeekin’s Men to secure the 4th round. This battle between the Frenchmen and the Europeans was very intense with every round ending on some nail-biting trades and encounters. Mousesports began to retaliate by winning the 6th round thanks to Robin ‘ropz’ Kool’s shotgun hold at the boiler position which helped him to get a tactical 2k. In the 8th round, Mousesports did show its presence on the server with a successful retake by Ropz and Özgür ‘Woxic’ Eker with the later defusing the C4 and Ropz getting a 2k which did include Mathieu ‘ZyWoo’ Herbaut to set up a scoreline of 3:5. This duo pulled of another successive round for Mouz as they both did secure 2k each against the helpless Vitality who were on Pistols.
Things began to worsen for Vitality as Richard ‘Shox’ Papillon did snipe down his own player and as of a result of the TK, the Europeans did have their upper hand as they did take a lead. But the Frenchmen were still fresh out there despite losing an eco, they did bought their cannons and rifles with Cédric ‘RpK’ Guipouy charging onto the 1st Mid and gunning down 2Mouz guys hence securing the 13th round with ZyWoo doing the honours. But the French guys were soon denied with a collective effort among the Mouz guys meant the B site to wildly open up for Business helping them reach 8-6 on their T side. Soon later the Frenchmen did Switch the sides with a 7:8 scoreline prop to ZyWoo and Dan’apEX’ Madesclaire who did get 2k each on the successful B site retakes.
Both sides did come from the break with the fire in their bellies with Mouz charging up B with 3 flashbangs, 2 molotovs and 2 smokes only to lose the round with ZyWoo pulling off a daylight robbery by successfully defusing the C4 in between of an intense pistol battle. Vitality began to capitalize with ZyWoo yet again getting a 2k on the A site. But their happiness was short-lived as Mouz kicked back to square out the scoreline as ALEX’s 2k went in vain as the B site went open for the plant and thus helping Mouz to secure the round. But with still the rage and heat running down the veins of the Frenchmen, RpK did sneak a 2k by hiding in the A site, making the c4 drop with ZyWoo doing the honours by getting a 2k on the rest. Low economy forced Mouz to face a weapon draught for 2 successive rounds but they put up a valiant challenge with Karrigan And Frozen exploding up the A site for the plant and Woxic in the next round scoping out on Alex with clearing the B site helped Mouz to reach 13-14 before an unreal 3k Clutch from ChrisJ helped them to tie out the scoreline with 14-14. With the win on the mind, Ropz and Karrigan blast up onto the A site with both of them fragging and planting the C4 earning their team the match point but alas they couldn’t keep up to Vitality’s threat which forced the Europeans to go into Overtime. Mouz didn’t loose the moral as they charged into OT with a 1v2 clutch from Woxic which denied the French retake and with a miscommunication between RpK and his boys over the C4 on banana did cost them the entire map with Mouz winning it 19:16.
The second map of the series being it Mouz’s pick did make them regret over their decision as they lost the pistol round on the T side with yet another daylight robbery pulled by ALEX who did successfully defuse the C4. Things were hiatus for the European side as they trailed 0-3 with Karrigan sneaking into the sandwich position only to kill the CTs in the Jungle and the CT side and making it 1-3 for his side followed by a standard A smokes Setup which saw Mouz coming back in the game. But we didn’t get to witness much of this as Vitality started to race away with some crucial rounds. ZyWoo soon made it 6:4 for the team as he successfully did retake the A site with a 3k. But an unreal nasty AWP clutch from Frozen saw Finn Anderson’s men claim the 12th round. Mouz then did close the first half with an 8-7 scoreline after a successful A site Hit. Things started to get better for Mouz when Karrigan stopped a furious B Hit by the Frenchmen to win the pistol round on their CT side. But their happiness was very much shortlived with Vitality changing their gears and going up 13-12 with the ZyWoo defending their planted c4 on the A site. Later in the match, ZyWoo did scope out 2 guys to make the pressure going earning his team 14-12 on the scoreline. Things finally began to fade for Mouz when the Frenchmen executed an A site hit gunning down Mouz left-right forwards and backwards and eventually claiming Mouz’s map pick with a score of 16-12.
Going in the decider map, we saw the Frenchmen win the pistol round on their CT side and swiftly cruising to a healthy 3-0 score. But their streak was shortlived as Mouz found their way in the B site successfully and opening their account with a round win. With just single round loss, the Frenchmen didn’t lose their rhythm and exploited every window of opportunity to lay concrete on their lead with ALEX hiding and sneaking out of the smoke on the 2 outer guys hence making the Terrorist drop his C4. With a massive lead, Vitality got gunned down with a relentless rush by Mouz on the A-site which witnessed Ropz and Frozen grab 2k each and thus registering a second-round win for Mouz. Mouz did keep up their pace as they closed out the first half with a scoreline of 5-10 with the duo of Karrigan and ChrisJ coming out with some highly tactical plays thus outclassing the Frenchmen.
Coming from the break, Vitality once again did outclass Mouz in the pistol round on their T side but they got instantly dealt in the next round when Mouz did decide to go on an Anti-Economy round hence snapping away the round. But with Vitality running away with the scoreline of 14-7, Karrigan pulled of a 3k and a 2k by ChrisJ that too twice when the Terrorists tried to fast Hit A site thrice. With ALEX helping Vitality reach match point after his brave defensive post-plant 3k clutch, it obviously did put Mouz in some economical issues which gave Vitality the edge thus enabling them to win the series 2-1 and making them the Champions of the Epicenter 2019.
