Mathieu "ZywOo"'s Vitality won their second trophy in CS2 and their fifth in 2023 to end the year as the best team. The French organization defeated FaZe in the decision of the BLAST World Final, in Abu Dhabi, this Sunday by 2-0 and also guaranteed US$ 500 thousand. ZywOo won his 18th MVP medal and is four away from passing CS record holder Oleksadr "s1mple". Of the six clashes between the two teams, Vitality came out on top on five occasions.
This was the team's eighth consecutive victory and the second title - in a row - in CS2 and with the brit William "mezii". The 25-year-old has been with the team for 39 days and before Vitality, he had never won a trophy in an international LAN. This Sunday, they won 13-5 at Inferno and 13-7 at Nuke. Together, they also took the BLAST Fall Final in the end of November.
FaZe, which had achieved a streak of 18 wins and three titles, lost its unbeaten record in the Fall Final on November 26th. The team led by Finn "karrigan" totals US$ 935 thousand in prizes in CS2. Two weeks ago, they said goodbye to Rusell "twistzz", who left for Liquid, and welcomed Daniel "frozen". Since the debut of Counter-Strike 2 at IEM Sydney, FaZe has participated in five tournaments and reached five finals, the last two against Vitality. The team won the Australian tournament, Thunderpick World Championship and the CS Asia Championships.
Vitality, in turn, chose a different path. The team "lost" coach Danny "zonic" and performance coach Lars Robl in October, just before IEM Sydney, a tournament in which they finished last. After that, they underwent a restructuring: Rémy "XTQZZZ" returned to coach the org after almost two years away. Emil "Magisk" also left and Vitality, who was not playing, signed mezii. With the arrival of the Brit, the squad returned to competing (there were 37 days without tournaments) and won the last two of the year. With the results, they took home US$704,000.
In 2023, FaZe won four titles: ESL Pro League Season 17, IEM Sydney, Thunderpick World Championship and CS Asia Championships. With five, Vitality was champion at IEM Rio, BLAST.tv Paris Major, Gamers8, BLAST Fall Final and BLAST World Final. Vitality conquered US$2.024 million in prize money and FaZe took US$350,000 more, totaling US$2,370,000.00 (including the Intel Grand Slam worth US$1 million).
In addition to the roster changes since its arrival in CS2, FaZe went through few changes in CS:GO. The only move was in the technical cast: Robert "RobbaN" left and Filip "NEO" arrived. Vitality in CS:GO removed the five-time Major champion, Peter "dupreeh", shortly after the trophy in Paris and added Shahar "flameZ".
The teams now take a player break and return to the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, which starts on January 22nd and will have the participation of 12 teams.
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