The first day of the VCT Masters London playoffs was a quick one, as Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #2 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen PROFEK Dawid Święć Derke Nikita Niko Sirmitev Chronicle Timofey Khromov Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu sealed the day's second sweep with a 2-0 victory over Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #5 koshmaras Martynas Namikas Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius .

The rematch of the EMEA Stage 1 grand final was played out on Team Heretics' pick of Breeze and Vitality's pick of Lotus.

One of the biggest questions surrounding Heretics entering London was how they would handle the Neon nerfs; Duelist player koshmaras had exclusively played Neon since joining midway through Stage 1. Derke was hot from the start for Vitality, helping his side get out to an early 4-0 lead. He ended the half with a 6-1 record in first duels, giving Vitality an 8-4 halftime advantage.

While Derke wasn't quite as dominant individually in the second half, Vitality's defense was sharp. Vitality only lost in rounds that Heretics had five rifles, causing enough damage in prior rounds to force a weaker buy through a solid bonus, for instance. Vitality never looked out of sorts on Breeze, winning 13-6.

Breeze was a breeze for Vitality.

As part of a dominant day, Vitality started Lotus winning the third of its four pistol rounds in the series. A 4-0 start to the series seemed to spell the beginning of the end, but Heretics didn't go down without a fight, using strong combination plays early and relying on some heroics to go on a 3-0 run of its own. Still, the Vitality train was hard to stop. Another 8-4 halftime lead gave Chronicle and co. a lofty cushion to lean on.

Heretics responded to a Vitality pistol and anti-eco win by stealing the next two rounds to force an eco, but a slip-up in that clash against a low-buy resulted in what could only be seen as the beginning of the end for Heretics, as Sayonara claimed four kills and Vitality reached 11 rounds.

Two with the Classic, one with the Snake Bite, and one with a stolen Vandal for Sayonara.

Vitality closed out the map and the series three rounds later, 13-7, again never quite looking uncomfortable.

Derke dropped a series-high 44 kills, while Chronicle's 33 were the next-most of any player in the lobby. koshmaras, on Neon for both maps, was the best performer for Heretics in the loss, recording a 1.00 rating with 28 kills.

Up next

Vitality moves on to play Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov in a matchup between one team that hasn't missed a beat despite skipping the Swiss Stage and one team that has stayed hot through it. Meanwhile, Team Heretics will slip to the lower bracket, one loss from elimination, with its next match against LEVIATÁN LEVIATÁN North America Rank #1 spike Rodrigo Lombardi blowz Guilherme Oliviera Neon Bruno Rodríguez Sato Eduardo Kenzo Nagahama Sato kiNgg Francisco Aravena .

VCT Masters London will continue with the following matches: