“For me, it’s just a normal thing to go into the playoffs and I hope we will go further” – Vitality dispatch Liquid from World Finals

Liquid and Vitality came to blows at the BLAST Premier World Finals lower bracket. With tournament life on the line, both teams gave it their all. But in the end it was Shahar "flameZ" Shushan's resurgence that knocked the NA side out of the event.

Following the win over Liquid, Vitality's Dan "apEX" Madesclaire talked to Esports.gg to discuss the series. Here's what the In-Game Leader had to say.

Esports.gg - Playoffs with a stand-in, congratulations! Has this exceeded your expectations for the event given you had very little prep with JACKZ?

With the team we have, I still have high hopes. Even though we play with a stand-in, I don't really care to be honest. I really want to do well with the team. Even though JACKZ hasn't played a lot with us, I really want us to do well. For me, it's just a normal thing to go into the playoffs and I hope we will go further.

Esports.gg - How much of the game plan changed with JACKZ coming in? Was there much of a change or was it more about making him comfortable?

I always try when we play with a stand-in to play in the best condition possible. We play a bit different, maybe a bit faster sometimes, but that's the way we have to do it. It's really tough, we had no practice with him and there's a lot he doesn't know. For Nuke, for example, I explained to him the two T-side strats just before the game, so yeah, it's quite hard.

Esports.gg -Was the veto all planned? I know you guys have pretty much run into those maps against Liquid before. Any surprises from them?

Maybe I expected a Mirage on the third map but yeah, we knew they would pick Anubis. We were ready on it, but when you lose rounds like the 2v1 and the 4v2 it's pretty tough to win.

Esports.gg - Are you keen on taking on MOUZ in front of the Singapore crowd tomorrow? A little grudge match against MOUZ awaits!

Yeah, we have revenge to make. They beat us in Rio and it's going to be fun to play here. It's my first time in Singapore ever so I'm really looking forward to playing in front of the people

Much like their series against G2, Liquid got a strong start off the line. Twistzz was once again at the top of the charts, and led his team to a 5-2 lead. Before the half got too far out of control, however, Vitality's star duo of ZywOo and Spinx stepped up. The rifler secured two 1v1 clutches, while ZywOo cleaned up against Liquid's buys to secure a tied half.

With flameZ notably absent from the kill feed, the A site defence simply could not hold. NAF's prowess on the lurk shone through as he helped Liquid take a 10-7 lead, with Twistzz putting a 1v3 cherry on top. ZywOo performed ably to keep Vitality's hopes alive a bit longer, but in the end the combination of JACKZ, flameZ and apEX simply couldn't hold their own.

Vitality is notoriously good on Dust2 and historically, it's been one of the better JACKZ maps too, setting this up as a perfect playground. The team started things off with a clean 5-0 lead. ZywOo was uncharacteristically absent, but flameZ was putting in an incredible performance to deny Liquid any back-to-back rounds. Vitality took a 9-3 lead in the half.

Event stand-in JACKZ was thrust into the spotlight in the pistol round, but the Frenchman showed off his incredible mechanical skills. Using just two USP-S bullets, he obliterated any chances of a Liquid comeback.

Liquid lost out in the knife round, but kept the early rounds tied up 2-2. Round 5 should have been a win for Vitality as Liquid came in with a Tec-9 rush. But the Canadian duo turned the tide with Tec-9s. The French side, however, stayed in control as flameZ and ZywOo led the charge with 30 kills between the two. Liquid managed to extract one final round thanks to a slight misplay from apEX, but it was Vitality leading 8-4 at halftime.

Another high impact pistol win from JACKZ extended Vitality's lead to double digits. Liquid's fortunes seemed to be turning, but Vitality in round 17 with just 5 glocks managed to pull off the impossible round. Cracking open the ramp room with numbers, the French side found a path into the lower site. And then ZywOo took over to put in the final nail in the Liquid coffin.

JKS apparently did not get that memo as the Aussie player just turned up the heat. Round after round he found multi-kills to annihilate Vitality's lead. Now with Liquid within two rounds of Overtime, XTQZZZ was forced to take a timeout. And the coach's words clearly paid off as Vitality edged out Liquid for a 13-11 win.

Vitality's run at the World Finals with stand-in JACKZ continues after a win over to Liquid in the Lower Bracket. The French side will now face MOUZ in the quarter-finals. MOUZ have been solid in recent events, but a loss to Astralis will boost Vitality's confidence in the matchup.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for more BLAST Premier World Finals coverage directly from Singapore.