Counter-Strike. Bloody hell.

This final continued to deliver in spades, with Mirage, Inferno and Anubis still left to play - in theory. What followed was one of the best maps ever played in the LANXESS - and if you missed it, you have to rewatch it.

Map three might just have been the pick of the bunch - it was wall-to-wall action, a rollercoaster of emotions, great moments, terrible moments, embarrassing moments, clutches, wild lurks and at the end of it all, a breaking of NAVI’s 12 map Mirage winning streak.

ZywOo was at the forefront in truth, and when Vitality were bad it was largely because he wasn’t involved. This was the quintessential ZywOo game, the game you can point to to show someone how good he is. He was near-perfection.

The story on the other side was w0nderful, who for large swathes of the game certainly wasn’t. He was struggling to find impact positionally and once he found those spots, he was missing. Two whiffed shots on ZywOo that allowed him to clutch were a testament to that - but he had his redemption, 1v2’ing in a crucial round to send us to second OT.

Honestly, there were too many moments to talk about in this map. It was f–ing brilliant. Watch the whole thing. If you already have, rewatch it.

Not every map can be great, though - and sadly, this one ended on probably its weakest. Vitality raced into a massive lead on Inferno, and drilled two nails through the NAVI coffin as Spinx deleted the entire A defence with one clip, and then apEX did the same on B.

The apEX one, by the way. Phwoar. That set the building alight, and the ridiculously loud Vitality fans went up another decibel level.

NAVI started a T side comeback, but it was merely cosmetic - from 11-2 down they got themselves up to a respectable score, getting up to nine, but mezii held down the A site to bring Vitality to match point and FlameZ sealed the deal.

Team Vitality are IEM Cologne champions - and ZywOo and apEX are the first French winners, interestingly.

Final standings:

1st 🇪🇺 Vitality – $400.000 & IEM Katowice Invitation
2nd 🇪🇺 Natus Vincere – $180.000
3-4th 🇪🇺 MOUZ – $80.000
3-4th 🇵🇹 SAW – $80.000
5-6th 🇪🇺 G2 Esports – $40.000
5-6th 🇪🇺 FaZe – $40.000
7-8th 🏴 Liquid – $24.000
7-8th 🇧🇷 paiN – $24.000

In less surprising news, mezii is the first Englishman to win one. Obviously.

Two world wars, one World Cup, and one IEM Cologne. Lovely.

ZywOo was, obviously, MVP, and rightfully so. He was absolutely masterful all series - never caught out of position, never looking away, never missing. It was like watching a robot play the game at times, just with a little bit of that French flair. A little Eric Cantona alongside a lot of Deep Blue.

With questions about who the best player in the world is right now, ZywOo put up a pretty good argument in Cologne.

Allez ZywOo, Allez ZywOo!

Photo by Adam Conway / Incipiens