Vitality have done it! The team of the year has secured two major titles in a row, the first championship double in CS since 2019. After a second season filled with semis and finals, but lacking in silverware, Vitality smashed through one of the most stacked playoffs brackets in CS history to pick up the one trophy that matters the most.
Team Rosters – FaZe vs. Vitality
| FaZe Clan | Team Vitality |
|---|---|
| Helvijs “broky” Saukants | Dan “apEX” Madesclaire |
| Finn “karrigan” Andersen | Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut |
| David “frozen” Čerňanský | Shahar “flameZ” Shushan |
| Jakub “jcobbb” Pietruszewski | William “mezii” Merriman |
| Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken | Robin “ropz” Kool |
| Filip “NEO” Kubski (C) | Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam (C) |
History awaits, and these ten players will battle it out across a five map series to decide who will etch their names on that Major trophy.
Map Veto
Vitality classically stick to their permaban, and this series was no exception. apEX’s side banned Ancient, while FaZe did the same for Train. That set up a five map thriller starting on both teams’ historical seat of power, Nuke.
- FaZe removed Train
- Vitality removed Ancient
- FaZe picked Nuke
- Vitality picked Dust2
- FaZe picked Inferno
- Vitality picked Overpass
- Mirage was left over
Grand Finals Recap – FaZe vs. Vitality – StarLadder Budapest Major 2025
Nuke – FaZe come out of the gates swinging – 13-6
A close 2v2 started off Nuke, with mezii’s lack of a defuse kit costing Vitality the round. FaZe’s five Galil buy gave them the firepower advantage in the second round, allowing for a successful A site take. ropz on the five-seven opened a small window in round three, and mezii nearly converted that into a round win, but once more time was FaZe’s sixth man in the server.
Guns finally came out for apEX’s squad, but Twistzz’s pocket play, the mini-drop, ripped the riflers right back out from CT gloves. Pistols finally gave Vitality their first round win, and XTQZZZ called an immediate timeout to ensure the team could capitalise on it. Unfortunately it was not to be, as mezii was thrust into yet another clutch against three, and FaZe locked their fifth round.
The half was now solidly in FaZe’s control now, as Vitality was forced to save weapons three rounds in a row. A huge outside flank from apEX stopped the bleeding for a moment, but in the end FaZe closed a comfortable 8-4 half on their T side.
jcobbb had been the star of FaZe’s pistol rounds across the Major, and the Polish youngster found his 15th pistol multikill to win yet another pistol for his squad. ZywOo and meziii combined in the force buy to keep Vitality alive, but Karrigan himself responded with a triple kill to take 11. mezii was creating miraculous advantages for Vitality in clutches, and another succesful 1v3 allowed the Brit to extend play.
Vitality, however, were simply not in the game yet as they overthought an A site take in round 18, handing over match point to Karrigan’s MP9. The map closed with a dominant 13-6 scoreline for FaZe.
Dust2 – Vitality respond with utter dominance – 13-3
Broky made the pistol round a close affair for FaZe to start Dust2, but flameZ refused to begin on the back foot. The Israeli star hit four massive Glock kills to power Vitality’s short take, followed by an uncontested B take as Vitality quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead. The B site was a glaring weakness for FaZe as Twistzz struggled to find impact, and defenders often rotated out toward mid, gifting Vitality open plants and control.
That dominance saw Vitality surge ahead 7-0 before a frozen triple finally put FaZe on the board. Mezii immediately answered back with a key clutch on A to keep Vitality well in front, though FaZe managed to scrape together back-to-back rounds before the half to salvage a 3-round haul. It was far from convincing, but at least kept the scoreline from total disaster.
FaZe took the first two rounds of the second half, but Vitality came in determined to close things out quickly. ZywOo’s silenced pistol shredded four opponents to secure the pistol, and although ropz looked certain to fall in round 14, the Estonian refused to die and even found a kill with his Dual Berettas. As FaZe wrestled with their economy, Vitality cruised to match point, and when rifles finally emerged for karrigan and company, mezii dropped the bomb and shut down any comeback hopes. FaZe may have landed the opening blow in the series, but Vitality’s response on Dust2 was a near-knockout punch, 13-3.
Inferno – mezii leads the charge as Vitality take the series lead – 13-9
The trade of map starts continued as FaZe took early success on Inferno. However, when guns came out for Vitality, ropz put his M4A1-s and intelligence to good use, mowing down three from pit. FaZe had taken significant HE grenade damage in round five, allowing mezii to clutch three kills just in time for a successful retake.
FaZe maintained their lead with a clean entry on apEX in round six, but four saved Vitality rifles kept things competitive. The French side began planting their feet into their CT defense, shutting down FaZe’s aggression and snatching a 5-4 lead before taking a commanding first-half advantage.
Frozen’s smoke spam kills handed FaZe the second pistol, and despite Vitality having chances to counter, ropz’s crucial Galil miss on the defuser kept FaZe in the game. Broky led the charge as FaZe roared back within a round of Vitality, but the defending champions rallied to extend their lead into double digits.
With eleven rounds secured, Vitality rushed the A site but were shut down by jcobbb and broky, only delaying match point by one round. FaZe scraped one more round onto the board, but Vitality closed out the map 13-9.
Overpass – Utter annihilation from ropz and Vitality – 13-1
Keeping the momentum going from the last two maps, Vitality started with another pistol conversion, with ropz taking point in the early rounds. The Estonian looked particularly sharp around the monster area, and his team took a solid 5-0 lead early. Even when FaZe threatened to find a succesful retake in round six, ropz was there from bank to spray down two to defend ZywOo.
8-0 up, and Vitality were marching towards a Major trophy, with every single shot connecting. ropz even took over the AWP from ZywOo to clean up round nine. FaZe may have been the crowd favorite throughout the playoffs, but the chants to “Send them home” were now growing louder. NEO took his final timeout before round 11, but Vitality still secured a 11-1 half. And with just pistols in their force buy, they managed to steal match point, using FaZe’s own magic against them.
Eight major champions, and two youngsters looking to join their ranks, entered the server in this epic grand final. But it’s Vitality who stood at the end of it all. Karrigan may have a case for being the greatest IGL in Counter-Strike history, but apEX has now won two more majors than him since FaZe’s second rise to the top of CS. With a third trophy major today, with two drastically different rosters, then apEX has just thrown his own hat into the ring for that title.
And that’s not the only GOAT crown on the line. s1mple was back on the Major stage before the finals leading Team GOAT. But with three major titles, four player of the year awards, and 28 MVPs, ZywOo has surely surged into the discussion for the greatest player of all time against his Ukrainian rival.
And all that without even mentioning ropz. The Estonian had become the defactor superstar for FaZe. But as FaZe’s moon waned, he chose to walk away from the project, to become ZywOo’s number 2 instead. What he recognized was that at the end of the trophies in your cabinet matter a whole lot more than topping the leaderboard.
Despite their “failures” in the second season, Vitality have been the dominant team of 2025, and this trophy just proves that yet again.
