Vitality sweep Spirit, qualify for the final at StarLadder Major Budapest
Vitality looked like they could have been crowned the best team of the year based off of their first six months in 2026, alone. They won nearly every event they attended, including the BLAST.tv Austin Major in June. Vitality's untouchable form didn't continue into the second half of the year, as their competition was able to catch up with them.
Vitality, though, are back in the Major final after their 2-0 sweep v. Spirit in the semi-final. The giants have been awoken and they are looking to take the second Major of 2025.
Vitality elected to start the series on Mirage. Spirit got off to a hot start with a 5-0 lead, which the Russians then converted into an 8-4 halftime advantage. Spirit began their T side brilliantly, as well, as they put Vitality on the ropes with a 12-6 lead. Vitality battled all the way back, winning six rounds in a row to force overtime. The teams couldn't be separated in the first overtime but it was Vitality who edged out Spirit at the line to steal the first map.
Spirit's pick was Dust2, with Vitality starting on defense this time. Vitality started off with four rounds in a row, but Spirit showed mental spirit to bounce back and secure a 6-6 halftime score. Vitality's T side was near untouchable, though. Spirit took the first two rounds of the second half, but couldn't muster any more, falling to Vitality 13-8 and crashing out of the tournament in the semi-final.
Robin "ropz" Kool was the star man for Vitality as the Estonian dropped 46 frags and a 1.34 rating in the two-map series.
SpiritVitality| Spirit |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets |
47 - 40 | +7 | 92.9 | 70.2% | 1.33 |
 Andrey 'tN1R' Tatarinovich |
41 - 37 | +4 | 80.4 | 71.9% | 1.07 |
| Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov |
33 - 36 | -3 | 64.2 | 68.4% | 0.88 |
| Ivan 'zweih' Gogin |
27 - 44 | -17 | 55.7 | 50.9% | 0.70 |
| Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov |
23 - 39 | -16 | 42.2 | 57.9% | 0.64 |
| Vitality |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Robin 'ropz' Kool |
46 - 31 | +15 | 84.1 | 80.7% | 1.34 |
 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut |
43 - 32 | +11 | 76.5 | 70.2% | 1.20 |
 William 'mezii' Merriman |
42 - 36 | +6 | 78.8 | 77.2% | 1.16 |
 Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan |
38 - 38 | +0 | 66.9 | 71.9% | 1.03 |
| Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire |
27 - 35 | -8 | 63.7 | 68.4% | 0.96 |
Vitality will now face the winner of FaZe v. NAVI in the final of the StarLadder Budapest Major.
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