The Frenchmen took the world's No. 1 team by surprise with a convincing victory.

Vitality have become the first team to secure a playoffs berth at IEM Summer following a 2-0 win against Gambit in Group A's upper bracket semi-finals. The French side will next face the winner of FunPlus Phoenix and G2 in the upper final, while Gambit have fallen to the lower bracket to lock horns with either Astralis or Extra Salt.

It was much thanks to an inspired performance from the combination of Kévin "⁠misutaaa⁠" Rabier and Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut that Vitality were able to take down the current No. 1 team, with the 18-year-old leading the way on Dust2 and helping his team come back from an 8-13 deficit with a key 1v2 clutch before ZywOo took over on Overpass.

misutaaa's impressive performance helped Vitality lock down Dust2

The high-profile triumph and a quick progression to the playoffs of the tournament will serve as a big boost to Vitality's confidence after the French side struggled in the early stages of their first two tournaments with newest addition Jayson "⁠Kyojin⁠" Nguyen Van at DreamHack Masters Spring and at Flashpoint 3.

Meanwhile, Sprout are the first team eliminated from the tournament after conceding a narrow series to Complexity in the first round of Group A's lower bracket. With the victory, Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer's men move on to match up against the losing side of the second upper bracket semi-final encounter between FunPlus Phoenix and G2.

Sprout put up a commendable showing in the series as they took Complexity to the limit on both Dust2 and Mirage, but the favorites prevailed in the end after securing the opening map in overtime, denying the German side a promising comeback attempt, and their own pick 16-14.

IEM Summer 2021Best of 3 VitalityMatchpage 2 0 3rd June 2021 Gambit 16Dust2 13 16Overpass 8

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	50 - 27	+23	107.7	1.64
Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabiermisutaaa	48 - 27	+21	84.3	1.38
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	37 - 35	+2	83.2	1.12
Jayson 'Kyojin' Nguyen VanKyojin	31 - 27	+4	61.8	1.06
Richard 'shox' Papillonshox	30 - 29	+1	65.2	1.02

Gambit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAx1Le	37 - 37	0	77.0	1.00
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolovsh1ro	28 - 35	-7	63.1	0.89
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkovnafany	33 - 41	-8	58.3	0.82
Timofey 'interz' Yakushininterz	25 - 44	-19	68.2	0.72
Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovHObbit	21 - 39	-18	45.7	0.58

IEM Summer 2021Best of 3 ComplexityMatchpage 2 0 3rd June 2021 Sprout 19Dust2 17 16Mirage 14

Complexity	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Justin 'jks' Savagejks	52 - 40	+12	81.1	1.23
Benjamin 'blameF' BremerblameF	46 - 41	+5	82.7	1.19
Valentin 'poizon' Vasilevpoizon	49 - 45	+4	87.1	1.14
William 'RUSH' WierzbaRUSH	42 - 43	-1	68.1	1.09
Kristian 'k0nfig' Wieneckek0nfig	46 - 48	-2	75.8	1.01

Sprout	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Josef 'faveN' BaumannfaveN	48 - 43	+5	75.3	1.12
Timo 'Spiidi' RichterSpiidi	45 - 52	-7	84.1	1.06
Marko 'kressy' Đorđevićkressy	42 - 45	-3	68.5	0.96
Fritz 'slaxz-' Dietrichslaxz-	42 - 46	-4	61.2	0.88
Denis 'denis' Howelldenis	40 - 50	-10	62.4	0.87

Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabier Age: 18 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 260 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.67 Vitality #12 Richard 'shox' PapillonDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' RabierJayson 'Kyojin' Nguyen Van FunPlus Phoenix #17 Jesse 'zehN' LinjalaLuka 'emi' VukovićMartin 'STYKO' StykPavle 'Maden' BoškovićAsger 'Farlig' Jensen Astralis #5 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderEmil 'Magisk' ReifLucas 'Bubzkji' Andersen Sprout #31 Timo 'Spiidi' RichterDenis 'denis' HowellMarko 'kressy' ĐorđevićJosef 'faveN' BaumannFritz 'slaxz-' Dietrich Complexity #13 Justin 'jks' SavageWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaKristian 'k0nfig' WieneckeValentin 'poizon' VasilevBenjamin 'blameF' Bremer Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Age: 20 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.28 Maps played: 822 KPR: 0.85 DPR: 0.62 Gambit #1 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov G2 #4 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Jayson 'Kyojin' Nguyen Van Age: 22 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 41 KPR: 0.60 DPR: 0.66 Extra Salt #18 Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekEdgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouJosh 'oSee' OhmJustin 'FaNg' Coakley Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer Age: 23 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 672 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.60