Vitality are still alive at BLAST Open Porto after beating Legacy 2-1 in the Group B lower bracket, HLTV reports. The series finished 16-14 on Nuke, 9-13 on Mirage and 13-8 on Dust2, and it took a comeback from 2-10 down on the opening map to get there.
Poor T sides shaped all three maps. HLTV attributes part of that to a lineup still settling, with Justinas "jL" Lekavicius playing in place of William "mezii" Merriman. The adjustment period is short: Dan "apEX" Madesclaire's side meet FUT on Monday, August 31, with a place in the playoffs on the line.
Legacy let a 10-2 lead go
Nuke opened badly for Vitality, who were taken apart on their own pick amid a disastrous half from Robin "ropz" Kool, who ended it 1-10 on kills and deaths and 1-6 in opening duels, and Shahar "flameZ" Shushan, who went 1-9.
Legacy took their highlights in turn on the way to a 10-2 half: a quad-kill from Vinicius "n1ssim" Pereira to open, a triple from Santino "try" Rigal in a 3v5, and another quad from Eduardo "dumau" Wolkmer. The Brazilians then collapsed after the side swap, losing momentum when a 1v3 clutch from Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut turned an early round. Bruno "latto" Rebelatto hit a legshot and narrowly missed a 1v3 ace clutch, and one of Legacy's only two rounds in the half came when flameZ failed to spot try on Silo. Vitality forced overtime and closed it out 16-14.
Mirage went the other way
Legacy won the Mirage pistol and a following force-buy after losing the conversion, but were soon 2-7 down once apEX produced a quad-kill. They recovered at the end of the half and carried it through the swap, with a 2.06-rated map from dumau and a pivotal triple from try behind a near-lockout defence that ended 13-9.
Vitality's T side finally worked on Dust2, where apEX led his team through an even first half. Legacy's economy then spiralled on their own T side, with rifle buys and pistol forces leaving them unable to stabilise even with try holding an AWP and full utility, and ZywOo, flameZ and apEX took the map 13-8.
try has been a standout for Legacy since joining, HLTV notes, but the effort was not enough on the decider once Vitality came online.