At Esports Tournament Dallas IEM, Stewie2k Leads G2 To Victory Over Vitality In ‘Counter-Strike’
by Ryan Forgosh
Counter-Strike 2 (Image: Valve)
G2 defeated Vitality 2-1 at IEM Dallas on June 2, hoisting the 100th IEM trophy.
The most recent Counter-Strike Major culminated in a faceoff between the German-based G2 and the French-based Vitality. While both teams have a history of success in tournaments, neither managed to lift any trophies in 2024. Now, on the biggest stage in Counter-Strike, one would come out victorious.
G2 and Vitality both have superstar rosters. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov of G2 and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut of Vitality were the two who were predicted to be competing for the top place in the match. ZywOo broke into the Counter-Strike scene in 2018 and has been dominant ever since, winning ten tournaments with Vitality. moNESY, meanwhile, is a relatively young face in the scene. At only 19 years old, moNESY is a Counter-Strike prodigy. He began playing Counter-Strike at just 5 years old and was invited to FPL in March 2020 at 14.
But in this battle lay a wildcard. G2’s in-game leader, Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen, was unavailable for IEM Dallas. Jacky “Stewie2k” Yip was brought in to fill the gap for G2 in the tournament. Stewie2k is known for leading Cloud9 to an underdog victory in the 2018 Boston Major, a huge achievement not just for Stewie2k and Cloud9 but for North American Counter-Strike as a whole.
G2 Esports CS2 roster
- Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač
- Nikola “NiKo” Kovač
- Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov
- Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen
- Nemanja “nexa” Isaković
Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas (C)
Team Vitality CS2 roster
- Dan “apEX” Madesclaire
- Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut
- Lotan “Spinx” Giladi
- Shahar “flameZ” Shushan
- William “mezii” Merriman
- Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam (C)
Map 1: Inferno
The first map brought the teams to Inferno. G2 began the game on the T side, and Vitality on CT. A 4k from m0NESY opened the game, securing the pistol round for G2. The team capitalized on the advantage and went up by three before Vitality secured their first gun round. The half ended with G2 up 7-5 before the teams switched sides. Down at the half, Vitality opened strong with three wins off the bat. G2 tried to catch up, securing a win via a 1v1 Ak battle between ZywOo and moNESY, but their economy was still at a massive disadvantage. On round 20, Vitality was up 11-8, but G2 refused to give up. Stewie’s survival round on B allowed G2 to stop Vitality’s momentum and let G2 start catching up. Ultimately, G2 was able to push Map 1 over time.
Vitality opened overtime dominant with ZywOo’s awping, pushing G2 into a corner. But NiKo and moNESY refused to go down without a fight, bringing the game into a second overtime. G2 opened the second overtime much stronger than the first, with moNESY baiting Vitality on B site while huNter planted on A. Map 1 finally ended when Stewie and moNESY secured G2’s victory in a 2v2 to close the game.
Map 2: Anubis
Like Inferno, Anubis was an extremely back-and-forth match, with both teams looking dominant at different points of the game. G2 once again began the game on T side and Vitality on CT. Vitality opened strong with a 2k from mezii, securing them the pistol round, but they couldn’t generate momentum from it as G2 took the next two. With G2 up 4-2, mezii had an Ace, breaking G2’s momentum and bringing Vitality back into the match. Despite a 4k from moNESSY, G2 couldn’t recapture the lead. The half ended with Vitality up 7-5. Vitality opened the second half, winning five straight rounds, bringing the game to match point. They only needed one more round to win the map, but G2 again held on. A triple from nexa brought the score to 12-10 and devastated Vitality’s economy. Stewie was able to hold down B next round, bringing the score to 12-11. With this momentum, G2 was able to tie up the game, bringing it into overtime once more.
This overtime was not nearly as back-and-forth as Inferno’s, with Vitality dominating the entire time. G2 was only able to get one round in overtime, as Vitality won the map 16-13.
Map 3: Nuke
The final map in the series brought G2 and Vitality to Nuke. G2 started on T and Vitality on CT, just as the previous two maps. G2 took the first three rounds, followed by mezii winning the fourth for Vitality in a 1v3. Of this, Vitality took the lead, bringing the score to 6-4. G2 played catchup for the rest of the half, tying the game at half. G2 kept their momentum into the second half, taking the early lead and bringing the score to 11-6. Vitality returned with two rounds to close the gap slightly, but it wasn’t enough. Round 21 would be the final round as G2 claimed the map three and the championship.
With HooXi absent, Stewie2k coming off of a two-year Lan drought, and NiKo stepping up as temporary igl, G2 raised the 100th IEM trophy in Dallas. G2 proved they would remain dominant in Counter-Strike, and Stewie2k brought the world’s eyes back to NA Counter-Strike.
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