Vitality close out IEM Cologne 2026 Semifinal 1 with a 2-1 series win over Spirit on June 19 late. ZywOo finished the series with a 1.46 rating — extending his Champions stage carry streak to two straight series above 1.44.
Map 1: Mirage 13-9 Vitality
Vitality first-picked Mirage. The T-side opened with a ZywOo opening pick on A-site ramp followed by a flawless mid-control execute on round two. Vitality closed the half 9-3. Spirit's CT-side Mirage in the second half pulled the gap to 9-7 on three consecutive force-buys, but Vitality closed out 13-9 on a ropz A-site retake quad-kill.
Map 2: Nuke 13-11 Spirit
Spirit's second-pick Nuke pulled their strongest Stage 2 map. donk-led T-side closed the first half 8-4 with three consecutive outside-ramp executes. Vitality's T-side Nuke in the second half clawed back to 11-11 on a ZywOo opening-pick streak. Spirit closed the series to 12-11 with a donk B-site retake 1v2 clutch — the play of the SF1 series — and took the next round on a Magisk T-side execute.
Decider: Ancient 13-7 Vitality
Vitality dominated Ancient 13-7. apEX led the CT-side with a 1.72 first-half rating — two opening picks on B-cave plus a 1v3 clutch in round 9 set up a 9-3 half. Spirit's T-side Ancient pulled to 9-7 but Vitality closed on a ZywOo A-default-defence triple kill in round 20 that put the series at match-point.
What this means
Vitality advance to the IEM Cologne 2026 Grand Final on June 21 against the SF2 winner (The MongolZ-MOUZ tomorrow). Spirit exit at the SF stage with donk posting a 1.41 series rating — strong but not enough to flip the bracket-favourite spread. Capsule market: Vitality holo jumped +34% in the 30 minutes after series close to +132% cycle-from-baseline. Spirit holo dropped to +28%.
