Vitality did not match the intensity of their first five series of 2023 and were handed their first loss of the year.

HEROIC got revenge on Vitality after losing to them at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups and sped ran through the IEM Katowice Group B upper bracket final, a series which decided who would advance straight to the semi-finals and who would start their playoff run in the previous round.

The series started on a dangerous home map for Vitality as the European combine decided not to choose Nuke in the veto, which they picked and won when the two teams met at BLAST Premier Spring Groups, and instead went for Inferno. Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen's men won a second-round forcebuy on the attack and took a 5-2 lead early on, showing that perhaps their gamble would pay off, but they were quickly dismantled by a HEROIC that dominated on the CT side and won seven of the final eight rounds to lead 9-6 at the switch.

The second half started the same way as the first, with the CTs winning the pistol round and the Ts hitting back in the forcebuy, but this time the five-headed hydra of HEROIC — as Sudhen "⁠Bleh⁠" Wahengbam succinctly described them — won out with no response from the Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire-led squad. Vitality’s star players Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut and Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi were shining bright, but could not make up for the rest of the team lagging behind. The French AWPer and the Israeli rifler ended up with 19 and 20 frags, respectively, while none of their teammates surpassed 10.

It was an easy day at the office for Heroic as Vitality failed to put up a fight

HEROIC went into their Overpass pick full of confidence after the ample 16-7 victory on Inferno and continued to plow through their counterparts, who went missing and appeared as if their minds were already set on the playoffs and the ongoing seeding match were a mere formality. The Danes secured the first three rounds on the attack, then gave one up to Vitality’s first full buy round, and continued steamrolling their opposition to a 12-3 half.

Vitality's first real stress test on the map after three victories against Astralis, Evil Geniuses and fnatic did not improve in the second half. A slaughter by the defenders in Vitality’s B site attack in the second pistol round just about sealed the deal in HEROIC’s favor, and although the Danes lost to the following forcebuy, they won the follow-up to stay ten rounds ahead. Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller and his men didn’t fret and closed out the map in dominant fashion after two rounds, 16-4.

After the match a visibly content René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen lightheartedly chatted about his team's dominating display over Vitality. "We hoped for the Inferno pick and when we saw it we said 'OK, we have a good chance.'" he told Bleh and Freya "⁠Freya⁠" Spiers in the Hall of Heroes — the space where the IEM Katowice group stage is taking place under the banners of past champions. "We wanted to get revenge and we did, so just happy with today, there’s nothing to put a finger on and everything went to perfection."

HEROIC will be back in action on Saturday, February 11, for the IEM Katowice semi-finals, while Vitality will kick off their playoff run the day before in the quarter-finals. The tournament will have a two-day break between the group stage and the playoffs, which will be held at the iconic Spodek Arena.

IEM Katowice 2023Best of 3 HEROICMatchpage 2 0 7th February 2023 Vitality 16Inferno 7 16Overpass 4

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jakob 'jabbi' Nygaardjabbi	40 - 24	+16	90.2	1.51
Rasmus 'sjuush' Becksjuush	40 - 24	+16	98.7	1.51
Martin 'stavn' Lundstavn	35 - 23	+12	83.6	1.36
René 'TeSeS' MadsenTeSeS	33 - 26	+7	80.1	1.30
Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN	26 - 24	+2	71.5	1.21

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	31 - 34	-3	76.8	1.04
Lotan 'Spinx' GiladiSpinx	32 - 33	-1	78.7	0.98
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	21 - 34	-13	62.0	0.78
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	20 - 36	-16	53.4	0.68
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	17 - 38	-21	61.0	0.60

fnatic #11 Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonDion 'FASHR' DerksenNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenWilliam 'mezii' Merriman Jamie 'keita' Hall Sudhen 'Bleh' Wahengbam Age: 35 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.00 Maps played: 0 KPR: 0.00 DPR: 0.00 Evil Geniuses #23 Timothy 'autimatic' TaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteSanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovJerric 'wiz' JiangJadan 'HexT' Postma Daniel 'Vorborg' Vorborg Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi Age: 22 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 522 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 HEROIC #2 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' BeckJakob 'jabbi' Nygaard Richard 'Xizt' Landström Vitality #7 Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautLotan 'Spinx' Giladi Danny 'zonic' Sørensen René 'TeSeS' Madsen Age: 22 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 927 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.67 Astralis #15 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzBenjamin 'blameF' BremerChristian 'Buzz' Andersen Peter 'casle' Ardenskjold Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Age: 22 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.27 Maps played: 1105 KPR: 0.84 DPR: 0.61 Danny 'zonic' Sørensen Age: 36 Team: VitalityC Freya 'Freya' Spiers Age: 26 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.00 Maps played: 0 KPR: 0.00 DPR: 0.00 Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Age: 29 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 2086 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.70 Casper 'cadiaN' Møller Age: 27 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1570 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.63