Unknown 9Z Team eliminates Vitality from BLAST Premier Showdown
The unknown 9z Team managed to eliminate Vitality in the first round of the BLAST Premier Showdown, in what is likely Cédric “RpK” Guipouy’s final game withthe French team.
9Z, a team that qualified for the Showdown through the South American qualifier, was marked as the heavy underdog going into the series. To make things worse, the team was forced to play with Rajohn “easTor” Linato as a stand-in.
Vitality seemed to be in control of the game on the first map, as it comfortably won 9z’s Nuke map pick. It was in-game leader Dan “apEX” Madesclaire who showed his team the way, as he topped the charts at the end of the map.
Going into the second map, Vitality seemed set to win the series in a comfortable 2-0 fashion. 9z had not played Overpass much recently, and even against weaker South American opponents the team only had a 25% winrate.
The first half went as expected. 9z got a small lead on the favored CT side and reached halftime with 9 rounds to its name.
But Vitality failed to close out the game and as its defense fell flat, 9Z took advantage by extending its lead to a surprise victory. Pushing the series to a third map was already surprising, but 9Z went above and beyond that. They crushed Vitality to start off the third map and took an unexpected 9-0 lead. Vitality looked stunned and disorganized but eventually managed to gather themselves.
In what looked like the start of a historic comeback, the Frenchmen closed the gap. At 13-10, they had won eight maps in a row and were in control of the economy. But thanks to some incredible heroics by Santino “try” Rigal, 9z did the unthinkable and won the map. Vitality is eliminated from the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, and 9Z will get the chance to continue the dream run in the next round against Heroic.
This is also a devastating blow for Vitality and an unfortunate end to RpK’s run with the team. The team has suffered early eliminations in a string of events and while this could partially be explained away by the consistently stiff competition, a loss to a little-known 9z squad shows that Vitality has some deep problems right now. The team is
set to replace RpK
with Jason “Kyojin” Nguyen moving forward, but only time will tell if that’s enough to get the team back on top.
Read Also
Counter-Strike
IEM Cologne Major Stage 3 preview: who’s making it to the playoffs?
Owen Harsono
The IEM Cologne Major is the biggest tournament of the year, and after two stages of play, it’s finally time to unleash the big boys. Stage 3 will feature the 16 best teams in the world, but only eight can advance to the Playoffs and play on the big stage. Here’s our IEM Cologne Major Stage 3 preview. Before we got to Stage 3, a lot of things happened in ...
Counter-Strike
IEM Cologne Major 2026 CS2 Stage 3 Pick’Em Predictions
Owen Harsono
It’s that time of the year again, as the next Counter-Strike 2 Major is right around the corner. The IEM Cologne 2026 Major is set to start on June 2, meaning you still have some time to lock in your Pick’Em predictions. The Pick’Em Challenge is one of the most exciting parts of the CS2 Majors, as it allows you to test your knowledge and predict which teams make it ...
Counter-Strike
Team Spirit concede just 10 rounds in Stage 2 of the IEM Cologne Major
Owen Harsono
It was pretty weird seeing Team Spirit having to start the IEM Cologne Major from Stage 2, but they quickly proved why that was a mistake. With donk shooting on all fronts, the Eastern Europeans speed ran the competition to book their spot in Stage 3. With how they’ve been playing, it’s hard not to wonder whether they can actually win the entire thing. These boys can sometimes be known ...
Counter-Strike
BIG pull off 0-12 comeback to stay alive – IEM Cologne Major Stage 1 recap
Owen Harsono
We’ve just witnessed arguably the worst choke in Counter-Strike Major history, and we’re only on the first stage of the IEM Cologne Major. If you didn’t tune into the Stage 1 matches, here’s what you need to know heading into Stage 2. Many fans tend to underestimate Stage 1 teams for fair reasons, but some survivors in this tournament look extremely promising. Two Eastern European teams, BetBoom Team and B8, ...
Counter-Strike
Who will win the IEM Cologne Major 2026?
Owen Harsono
If you’re looking to play it safe and back one team at the Counter-Strike 2 IEM Cologne 2026 Major, traders prediction markets platforms have a clear frontrunner – it’s Team Vitality. But if it’s not meant to be, there are a few other candidates that could lift the trophy. Here’s what traders on Polymarket and Kalshi think. If you haven’t been watching CS2 this year and are only jumping on ...
Counter-Strike
The 10 best CS2 players who have never won a Major
Owen Harsono
In Counter-Strike, winning a Major immediately puts you into legend status. It’s an achievement that proves you won the game’s biggest trophy. However, there have been some really good players that could never get their hands on the biggest trophy that Counter-Strike esports has to offer. Here is WIN.gg's list of best CS2 players who have never won a Major. ScreaM is one of Counter-Strike's most famous players for one ...
Counter-Strike
IEM Cologne Major 2026: All the teams, favorites, and outright betting odds
Owen Harsono
Mark your calendars, as the IEM Cologne Major kicks off on June 2, 2026. We’re going to see the best teams in the world compete, but which ones are actually favored to take the title? This will be the first time in 10 years that IEM Cologne will return as a Counter-Strike Major, so the stakes this year are much higher than they’ve been in a decade. In this guide, ...
