Vitality are finally finding out what it takes to have a real Counter-Strike era

It’s easy to be positive when the going’s good. And for Vitality in 2025, the going has been very good. We’ve all waxed lyrical about this team at some point this year, all dealt out compliments drenched in hyperbole about Vitality and their place in CS history. Even I went early, declaring Vitality had started a Counter-Strike era as quickly as April. Yeah, I may have got a touch ahead of myself there.

Competitive Counter-Strike naturally ebbs and flows. It is rare that one team establishes a period of dominance, which is why Vitality felt like such a unicorn in winning seven events in a row earlier this year. Being on top comes with the curse of all eyes being on you at all times. When you’re unbeatable, as Vitality were for so long, you paint a massive target on your back. You become a puzzle for all the best CS2 teams to solve.

At the moment, that Vitality puzzle feels like it has very much been solved. Beaten once by MOUZ and twice by The MongolZ, they’ve been relegated to Semi-Final finishes at their last three events. A dream placement for some, but a failure in the eyes of the Golden Hornets, given the context of their year so far. But the illusion of a possible Vitality Counter-Strike era has not been shattered, at least not for me. No. In fact, I’d argue this type of period is necessary for any team that wants to establish an era. It’s time to see what they’re really made of.

It’s not about how hard you get hit…

Vitality’s dismal start to this season should raise alarm bells across the board, but it was always going to happen at some point. No one wins everything forever. It has never been done, hence why obtaining a Counter-Strike era is such a feat. CS2’s ever-evolving ideas at the very top mean that strats that win you a Major on one day, may only be enough to secure you a Quarter-Final finish the next. The coaches and IGLs working at the pinnacle of Counter-Strike are simply too smart not to make changes quickly nowadays. So while they adapt to you, you’ve got to adapt to their adaptations before they even happen!

So while Vitality might feel stale right now, their chances of securing a Counter-Strike era are not diminished yet. Their ability to have one depends not on their ability to go on unprecedented winning runs, but rather, what they do once those wins start drying up. At this point, it’s worth bringing up Astralis. The Danes have undoubtedly the longest and most successful Counter-Strike era of all, and revisionist history would have you believe they just sort of won everything, all the time between 2017 and 2019. False.

The losses Astralis endured are easily forgotten with the passage of time. While at the peak of their powers in 2019, Astralis endured a five-month trophyless spell between BLAST Pro Series Madrid 2019 and ESL One: Cologne 2019, spanning four events total. They’d bounce back to win the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019. They made the necessary adaptations and were victorious again. The point is this: no one argues the validity of Astralis’ Counter-Strike era, despite these rougher periods. If Vitality can find the solutions to their very prominent problems, they can still have an era as many expected throughout the first half of the year. It’s not about how hard you get hit…

What’s actually going wrong at Vitality?

So, what do Vitality actually have to solve to return to winning ways? The short answer is “lots,” but that’s not exactly compelling reading. From the outside looking in, there are the internal intangibles that are impossible to judge. Individual motivation, players’ personal lives, illness during events. That sort of stuff. You never know how things like this are affecting a CS2 team, so we’ll steer away from the stuff that isn’t our business and focus on the tangible things on the server.

First, there’s the T-sides. Since coming back from the player break, they’ve looked flaccid and devoid of ideas, increasingly so as the matches have rumbled on. The statistics don’t actually make for terrible reading – 139 T-side rounds won out of 278 played. Exactly half. But for a team contending for every trophy, is that enough? I’m unconvinced. Their mid-rounds in particular seem to fall apart at the moment, but apEX has crafted enough T-side strategies across his career that I’m confident he’ll be able to solve this one. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but ZywOo is a bigger problem on T-sides right now than anything else.

Since the start of IEM Cologne 2025, ZywOo’s T-side rating has sat at just 1.07. For context, donk, his top contender for #1 player of 2025, has a 1.44 on T-sides across the same time period. Filtering this by matches against top five teams paints an even uglier picture, with that rating dropping to 0.82 across three events. That’s not just bad: that’s karrigan-level, but even FaZe Clan’s IGL has put up a 0.84 T-side rating since the player break. ZywOo is ZywOo, so he’ll bounce back, but it’s impossible to avoid mentioning his form as one of Vitality’s biggest issues right now.

But Counter-Strike is ultimately a game of two halves, and their CT problems are equally pronounced. They seem particularly vulnerable on Nuke, a flaw that Falcons were recently able to expose to claim 3rd place at the CS2 Esports World Cup. CT issues are tougher to solve – they require more initiative from individuals, and, simply put, they have to hit their shots. That’s where I have to mention flameZ, who is currently enjoying a massive slump. While he’s performing about par on T sides, his 0.90 CT side rating since the player break makes him an obvious weak link for others to exploit.

The good news for Vitality is that nothing about their slump seems to be unsolvable. Betting on ZywOo and flameZ to start hitting their shots again, and apEX to figure out some fresh T-side ideas, then I’d expect to see Vitality return to their normal level. Remember, despite this rough patch, they’re yet to finish below the Semi-Finals of an event, so even just a few improvements could tip the balance. I’m calling it now: the Vitality Counter-Strike era is alive and well – we just don’t know it yet.