Team Vitality defeat the MongolZ to win the CS2 Austin Major

1 year ago

It can no longer be denied, welcome to the era of Team Vitality.

French Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) juggernauts Team Vitality have been crowned as champions of the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 after they overcame The MongolZ with a 2-1 reverse sweep in the tournament's grand finals on Monday (23 June). Vitality claimed the grand prize of US$500,000 out of the Austin Major's US$1.25 million prize pool to go with their seventh straight tournament victory.

Vitality's victory in the Austin Major is the crowning achievement for the first team to truly have an era of dominance in CS2. The French squad's rise to the peak of the scene began in January with their landmark signing of Robin “ropz” Kool to become their second star alongside Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut .

Since then, Vitality won six consecutive tournaments, namely Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Katowice 2025 in February, ESL Pro League Season 21 and BLAST Open Spring 2025 in March, IEM Melbourne 2025 in April, as well as BLAST Rivals Spring 2025 and IEM Dallas 2025 in May. In that span, the team also won the ESL Grand Slam Season 5 and its US$1 million grand prize with their triumph in IEM Melbourne and built up a historic streak of consecutive matches won to 30, halfway to the all-time record of 60 set by Ninjas in Pyjamas all the way back in 2013.

And with the Austin Major championship added to their trophy case, Vitality silenced all doubts that we are now in the Vitality era. Vitality IGL Dan “apEX” Madesclaire has now won three Major championships and his second with the team. ZywOo and ropz have also won their second Major titles, while Shahar “flameZ” Shushan and William “mezii” Merriman claimed their first, with mezii notably becoming the first-ever British player to become a Major champion.

Meanwhile, the MongolZ settle for second place and US$170,000 in consolation. While they fall short of becoming the first-ever Asian team to claim a Major championship, they can still hold their heads high as the first team from the region–and the youngest of any team ever–to reach the grand finals of a Major.

Vitality defeat the MongolZ to claim Austin Major championship

While Vitality were far and away the biggest favourites to claim the Austin Major championship, not many expected the MongolZ to be their opponents in the grand finals. The tournament's grand finalists both started their respective Major campaigns in Stage 3, where they needed to win three matches in the Swiss-format stage to advance to the Playoffs.

Vitality entered the Major with a historic streak of 30 consecutive match victories, halfway to the all-time record of 60 set by Ninjas in Pyjamas all the way back in 2013. However, that streak came to an end in their opening match of Stage 3 at the hands of Brazilian squad Legacy . But after stumbling versus Legacy, Vitality quickly bounced back with three straight victories over Nemiga Gaming , 3DMAX ,, and Virtus.pro to qualify for the Playoffs.

Meanwhile, the MongolZ had to go all through five rounds of Stage 3 to advance to the Playoffs. They stumbled in their first match versus FURIA Esports before scoring back-to-back victories over Team Liquid and Lynn Vision Gaming to get in position to advance to the arena. However, the MongolZ fell to fan-favourites FaZe Clan in round four, forcing them to outlast G2 Esports in round five to earn their place in the Moody Arena.

Team Vitality vs The MongolZ

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