Very soon, one of the most interesting matches of the first round of the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: Legends Stage will begin. It will feature not just anyone, but the champions of two major tournaments in 2023: G2, who won IEM Katowice, and Vitality, who took the championship at IEM Rio 2023. To help us understand which of these world-class giants will win the first match, we have the exclusive commentary from Konstantin Leniniw Sivko, provided by Cover.gg.
Team Form
Vitality are the champions of IEM Rio 2023, which took place in the second half of April. Throughout the tournament, ZywOo simply tore through one opponent after another. Spinx also performed well - the second strongest player on Vitality and one of the most prestigious entry fraggers. Magisk also managed to step up his game, often not standing out much during his time in the French club.
It feels like Vitality is reaching the peak form of their lineup: Victory at EPL S16, and now IEM Rio. Their ability to come back from scores like 1:14 and ZywOo, whose voice "has started to be heard in the team," as apEX recently said. The French squad has obtained an incredibly valuable chance to win the Major in Paris, while the Danes aim to win once again.Konstantin Leniniw Sivko
G2, on the other hand, have already had practice during the Challengers stage, easily winning four maps in a row without much trouble. m0NESY and jks showed excellent performance, while NiKo, on the contrary, had an ordinary game without standing out too much. However, it's worth noting separately that G2 has only played against Tier-2 teams at the Major - Complexity, The Mongolz, and Apeks.
Fortunately for G2, they don't rely on NiKo alone. They don't rely on a single player at all: let's recall the matches against Mongolz or Complexity, where NiKo was at the bottom of the scoreboard while m0NESY and huNter- shined. And the notion that NiKo looks lackluster is exaggerated. Against Apeks, he made a crucial ace with the Tec-9, thereby eliminating the opponent's resistance. People are simply accustomed to looking at stats.Konstantin Leniniw Sivko
Map Selection
If we look at the raw numbers, G2 is only weaker than their French opponents on Vertigo, but we won't see it in a bo1 match, just like the signature Inferno from HooXi and his company. Vitality will be prepared for Mirage and Anubis, on which they previously defeated G2 in RMR. However, the outcome of the match will not be predetermined during the map selection stage.
Prediction from Leniniw
This is a bo1 match with very strong opponents. I would bet on Vitality due to their recent momentum and slightly higher motivation, probably. But it won't be surprising if G2 wins.Konstantin Leniniw Sivko
The Vitality - G2 match will take place on May 13th at 17:00 EEST in the first round of the Legends stage at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023. Both teams will also participate in the second round later in the evening. More detailed pre-match statistics are available at the link.
The BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 is taking place from May 8th to May 21st. Teams are competing for a prize pool of $1.25 million. The tournament winner will also receive spots at IEM Cologne 2023 and BLAST Premier: World Final 2023. The schedule and results of the Major can be tracked here.
Comments