Team Vitality Makes Shock Exit From IEM Katowice 2024

The best team of 2023, Team Vitality, was eliminated from IEM Katowice 2024 by heavy underdogs, Team Heroic. This massive upset sent shocks to the entire Counter-Strike community. 

Under the helm of legendary in-game leader Dan “apEx” Madesclaire, Team Vitality underwent multiple roster changes in 2023 to craft the perfect Counter-Strike roster that would stand on top of the world. 

After winning five S-Tier tournaments last year, one being the final Major in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Team Vitality was crowned the best team of 2023. However, the new year has yet to treat them well. 

Poor Start To IEM Katowice

Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2024 is an ongoing tournament featuring $1,000,000 in prize money and the best teams in the world. The number-one-ranked team in the world had what fans thought was a “free” win against the new ENCE roster for their first match at the event. 

After getting their roster shredded by Team Falcons, ENCE and Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander rebuilt the team into a Polish squad recruiting “Tier 2” players from 9INE. Everyone thought this matchup would be a breeze for Team Vitality, but boy, were they wrong. 

The two teams traded their map picks to take the series to a third map – Nuke. Team Vitality displayed a horrendous defense on the CT-sided map, losing the first half 3-9. ENCE could convert their lead into one of the biggest upsets in the tournament so far. The 48th-ranked team defeated the world number one. 

Upset Over Upset

Team Vitality didn’t fly to Poland to lose one series and be eliminated; they had a second chance in the Lower Bracket. The Bees were drawn Team Heroic as their second matchup. 

Similar to ENCE, Heroic underwent a massive roster shuffle after Astralis and Team Liquid stole their star players. Coming into this matchup against Team Vitality, the series again heavily favored the French organization.

On Heroic’s map pick of Mirage, Team Vitality had the game under control, taking a 10-5 lead. However, the five-round lead was insufficient, as Heroic’s potent CT side forced the map to go overtime. Team Vitality took two T rounds in the first half of overtime but lost their footing on defense and conceded three CT rounds to present Heroic the first map. 

Team Vitality looked shaky in their map pick, Anubis, after being down 1-5 in the first six rounds. Heroic eventually had an 11-9 lead, with Vitality’s economy broken. However, with their individual prowess, Vitality woke up and closed the second map 13-11 to force a third. 

In the decider, Vertigo, Heroic built up a 9-3 first half on the Terrorist side. Things were looking grim for Team Vitality, whose individuals were not showing up. Somehow, Vitality mirrored Heroic’s T-side half and took the map into overtime. Unfortunately, Heroic could take the map in OT to complete a massive upset like the first map.

Is apEx Cursed In Poland?

With this loss, Team Vitality, the favorites to win the entire event, was sent out of Katowice in 13th-16th place by the 48th and 31st-ranked teams who only had their rosters for less than a month.

Sorry for this showing, this beginning of the year is really bad and we know it.
Gonna work and give our best to bounce back asap, thanks everyone for your support. ❤️

— Dan Madesclaire (@Vitality_apEX) February 5, 2024

The organization has participated in six iterations of IEM Katowice events and only made it out of the group stage once. Keep in mind apEx has been in Vitality throughout the entire six years. In-game leader apEx himself has played in Katowice ten times and only qualified for the Playoffs twice.