NiKo hit the table after failing in the decisive 1v5 situation.

G2 won the first semi-final of BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024, overcoming Vitality in a tense series, culminating in the Mirage map that went to overtime. 

This victory not only secured Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski's team a ticket to the finals in Copenhagen, but also marked the first meeting between G2 and Vitality in more than three months. In their previous meeting at Spring Final, Vitality eliminated Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen and Nemanja "nexa" Isaković from G2, leaving them in last place.

This time, Nikola "NiKo" Kovač and new member Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa were determined to change the results. This star duo had excellent performances with indexes of 1.47 and 1.43. 

"This is a very important match for us, because we need to know where we stand," NiKo shared right after the match. "See if we are in the top two or three, this match is very important."

The tension of the series was clearly shown in an interesting detail: in the post-match interview, NiKo held in his hand a table with a hole in it, the result of him smashing the table after almost succeeding in the match. 1v5 situation on the last map.

The series began with the Anubis map chosen by G2, the first time this team chose Anubis in a series. Although malbsMd and NiKo played very well, the poor performance of Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov made the difference, helping Vitality defeat their opponents 13-9.

Despite losing on Anubis, G2 did not flinch and came back strongly on Dust2, the map that Vitality chose. G2 won 7 of the last 9 rounds of the first half to gain a big advantage entering the CT defense. 

This time, G2 was lucky enough to have m0NESY get off to a good start on the server, as the young Russian player along with his star shooters helped the team win 13-7 on the Dust2 map.

Mirage was the decisive map and did not disappoint fans. Vitality started well on the offensive side thanks to some impressive plays from Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, but G2 came back to lead 7-5 thanks to a 1v2 from captain Snax. 

Vitality regained the advantage after winning the second pistol, and although NiKo almost succeeded in a 1v5 clutch, Dan "apEX" Madesclaire's team still controlled the match with a score of 12-9.

Although disappointed after failing in the 1v5 phase, NiKo exploded in the remaining rounds, helping G2 drag the match into extra time and eventually win 16-14 after a tense series of matches.