It’s one week to Christmas, and yet here in Abu Dhabi you wouldn’t think so, were it not for the Christmas trees and songs that have, bizarrely, permeated the zeitgeist in this strange place.
The sun is blaring; albeit, that’s coming from a man so white (aizyesque) that hummus was considered an exotic experiment for the first day he arrived here. It’s ‘only’ a cool 27 degrees celsius, after all.
The crowd is lively, but small, and the streets are stunning, but empty. There are a lot of things about this place that don’t make a lot of sense, but there’s one thing that makes total sense.
Vitality are the best team in the world.
It’s a sentence we’ve said quite a lot this year, and it’s one you’ll probably have to get used to hearing.
They toppled FaZe in Copenhagen for Fall Finals, and tonked them in Abu Dhabi to cement their place at the top of the charts to end the year. It might not surprise you to learn, also, that ZywOo was the MVP.
Again.
He was chased closely to it by mezii, who has levelled up from Fall Finals to become a key part of everything Vitality do. But ZywOo dropped a masterclass on Nuke to seal his MVP status, encapsulated by one round where he shimmied around the double doors before no-scoping a player through them.
This was one round after he had already no-scoped a player through that door, by the way.
apEX, simultaneously, has morphed over 2023 from the butt of the joke to the top of the class. He called a stunning tournament, and that they so confidently dealt with all of karrigan’s tricks is testament to how good they are.
Vitality are not just world champions, they are the best in the world without a question, and it’s hard to imagine anyone beating them at this moment in time.
Final standings:
1st 🇪🇺 Vitality - $500.000
2nd 🇪🇺 FaZe - $250.000
3-4th 🇪🇺 NAVI - $85.000
3-4th 🇪🇺 MOUZ - $85.000
5-6th 🇪🇺 G2 Esports - $25.000
5-6th 🇷🇺 Cloud9 - $25.000