Vitality secured the final playoff spot at BLAST Open Porto in the Group B lower-bracket final with a convincing 2-0 victory over FUT, winning 13-7 on Anubis before closing out Dust2 13-8. Cache remained untouched as the decider, while ZywOo led the series with a 1.43 rating.
The result capped a strong lower-bracket recovery for Vitality. The team opened the event with a 0-2 loss to Inner Circle while playing with jL as a stand-in, then fought through wins over 9z, Legacy, and FUT to reach the playoff stage. The earlier BLAST Porto bracket had placed Vitality against Inner Circle in the opening round, making the eventual turnaround even more striking.
FUT entered the match after reaching the Esports World Cup final, leaving little time to reset and practice before arriving at the BLAST studios in Denmark. Their aggressive approach repeatedly gave Vitality chances to punish overextensions, and Vitality looked more coordinated with every round.
Vitality turn Anubis around after FUT’s fast start
The veto produced Anubis and Dust2 as the battlegrounds. FUT removed Inferno and Nuke before picking Anubis, while Vitality banned Ancient and Mirage and selected Dust2. Cache was left as the decider, but the match ended before it was needed.
FUT had the early advantage on Anubis. A triple kill from cmtry, followed by a 3v5 recovered by dem0n and dziugss, helped the team build a 4-2 lead.
Vitality answered with one of the round’s biggest swings when ZywOo won an eco-round 1v3 clutch. The play stopped FUT’s momentum, and the teams went into halftime tied 6-6.
Once Vitality moved onto the attack, FUT struggled to contain the pressure. Vitality won seven of the next eight rounds, with multi-kills from jL, ZywOo, and apEX repeatedly punishing FUT’s aggressive defensive setups. ZywOo finished the map 16-9 with a 1.56 rating, while jL posted a 16-10 scoreline and a 1.43 rating.
ZywOo and apEX keep FUT at arm’s length on Dust2
Dust2 followed a similar pattern, although Vitality established control much earlier. apEX found several high-impact kills while Vitality waited for FUT to overpeek, and ZywOo stayed one step ahead of cmtry throughout the opening half. Vitality reached halftime with a 9-3 lead, with ZywOo going 18-10 at a 1.32 rating and apEX finishing the map 15-14 at 1.40.
FUT briefly cut into the deficit after winning the pistol and four rounds around it, adding five rounds in the second half altogether. The comeback stopped when back-to-back B-site hits were shut down by ropz and ZywOo. Vitality soon secured the 13-8 finish and the last playoff place.
Vitality’s stars set the pace
Across both maps, ZywOo finished 34-19 and posted the best rating in the match at 1.43. apEX matched him with 34 kills while going 34-26, and jL ended the series 29-21 with a 1.31 rating. Vitality’s team rating reached 1.22, well ahead of FUT’s 0.85.
dem0n was FUT’s top-rated player at 1.02 after going 27-27. The rest of the lineup finished below a 1.00 rating, leaving FUT with too much ground to recover against Vitality’s three leading performers. The HLTV match page records the complete player breakdown.
The Anubis comeback also produced the highlight below.
Projected VRS movement
An unofficial VRS projection keeps FUT at No. 4 despite a projected loss of 16 points, leaving the team at 1,859 points. Vitality is projected to move from No. 7 to No. 5 after gaining 49 points for a total of 1,844. VRS officially updates once per month, and the projection may not account for every factor used in the calculation.
Vitality’s climb now sends them into the Porto playoffs after surviving an early stumble. FUT, meanwhile, missed the berth after their aggressive style failed to find an answer for Vitality’s patient defense and sharper trading.
What did you think of Vitality’s recovery at BLAST Open Porto? Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, Telegram.
