Vitality took their fifth trophy in a row at BLAST Rival Fort Worth 2026, taking down NAVI in a thrilling three-map final. While NAVI were in good position to steal a map in the first two, Vitality showed their true form on Dust2, battering NAVI’s CT-side with a constant barrage of headshots. The title also sees them
Team Rosters – Vitality vs. NAVI – BLAST Rivals Fort Worth 2026
| Vitality | NAVI |
|---|---|
| Dan “apEX” Madesclaire | Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi |
| Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut | Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen |
| Shahar “flameZ” Shushan | Mihai “iM” Ivan |
| William “mezii” Merriman | Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov |
| Robin “ropz” Kool | Drin “makazze” Shaqiri |
| Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam (C) | Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi (C) |
Match Recap – Vitality vs. NAVI – BLAST Rivals Fort Worth 2026
- Vitality removed Ancient
- Natus Vincere removed Overpass
- Vitality picked Nuke
- Natus Vincere picked Anubis
- Vitality picked Dust2
- Natus Vincere picked Mirage
- Inferno was left over
Nuke – NAVI fumble an 11-0 lead – 16-12
Against a Goliath like Vitality, teams often need to get an explosive start to have any chance of an upset. And b1t gave Vitality just that with three clean headshots from his USP-S dropping the bomb in secret. While that round, and two more that followed, came down to a 1v1, NAVI consistently came out on top to take an early lead.
Not peaking together. We’re not playing the round to win guys. Let’s f***ing play the round to win.—apEX in round four
apEX’s rallying call fell flat as w0nderful sneaked outside and stabbed Vitality before the round could even start, and NAVI continued their streak of wins across Nuke. It wasn’t until the very last round of the half that Vitality found an early advantage outside to deny the 12-0.
A series of trades in the second pistol kept both things level, and this time ZywOo bested his opposite number in a 1v1 duel, catching w0nderful before the bomb could go down. That gave Vitality the initial momentum they needed to even dream about a comeback, and a 4hp difference between ropz and iM going the Estonian’s way accelerated it. Even when NAVI finally found their 12th, Vitality remained in control and pushed the map to overtime.
Vitality’s control over the silos continued into OT, and the team simply shut the door on NAVI’s faces, locking in the win 16-12.
Anubis – A thrillingly close map, goes the usual way – 13-11
After the warmup on Nuke, Vitality looked significantly more comfortable on Anubis as they split onto the A site for a pistol conversion. While ropz’s AK-spray denied NAVI their rifle round, the subsequent forcebuy set the strategy for the half with successful CT-pushes disrupting Vitality’s gameplan. Those plays eventually allowed NAVI to close the half at an even 6-6.
Vitality nearly flipped a 2v5 into their favor in the second pistol, but makazze walked in from CCTV to secure the clutch. That lead wouldn’t last for long, though, as ropz pulled off a pixel-perfect clutch his with Five-Seven to keep things level. And level they would stay until iM doubled up in the backlines of A-site in round eighteen, giving his team the runway to get to 11.
That scoreline put NAVI in touching distance of the map win, but in their eagerness to lock it in the team was blinded by their own flash, allowing flameZ to mow them down, giving Vitality double digits. Everything came down to a 1v1 between ropz and makazze, and the Estonian used his AWP to close the map out in style with a headshot.
Dust2 – Vitality smash their way to the trophy – 13-3
After two thrilling maps of intense battle, NAVI’s challenge completely fizzled out on Map 3. A solid win in the pistol round, and a 5v3 in the anti-force should have been enough to give NAVI a substantial lead, but a flurry of frags from Vitality down middle gave apEX and co. a path back into the round. That one round quickly turned into ten in a row, as Vitality battered the CT side throughout the half.
Just two rounds on the CT side of Dust2 was simply too small a target for NAVI to defend. Vitality picked up the pistol conversion, dropped a single rifle round to NAVI, before closing the map out with a 3v5 and a broken buy.
Series Statistics – Vitality vs. NAVI
| Player | Kills | Assists | Deaths | ADR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIT ropz | 60 | 12 | 38 | 81.6 |
| VIT mezii | 55 | 12 | 41 | 75.0 |
| VIT ZywOo | 54 | 12 | 45 | 87.3 |
| VIT flameZ | 54 | 13 | 45 | 84.7 |
| NAVI w0nderful | 53 | 14 | 42 | 77.2 |
| NAVI b1t | 46 | 12 | 60 | 72.7 |
| NAVI iM | 45 | 21 | 54 | 78.4 |
| NAVI makazze | 44 | 13 | 56 | 72.2 |
| VIT apEX | 39 | 20 | 51 | 68.7 |
| NAVI Aleksib | 32 | 10 | 52 | 53.9 |
