I dare you to name a better Counter-Strike team in the world right now. Spoiler alert: You can’t. This well-oiled machine of a team are now champions of ESL Pro League Season 21, already topping their 2024 trophy tally having already won IEM Katowice 2025. Remember, it’s March.
MOUZ had no answers to Vitality’s dominance, and who can blame them? No offense to the former, but Vitality are just operating in a league of their own at the moment. Not even Spirit come close, as proven by them not even making the Grand Final of ESL Pro League S21.
But why are Vitality so, so good right now? In the wake of their EPL win over MOUZ, I want to look at a few elements of this team to try and answer that question.
Usual wisdom suggests that even the best CS2 teams have an Achilles’ heel. A weak spot to exploit for teams tactically astute enough to recognize it. Previously, I might have said that was mezii. On this form, I’d be trying to avoid mezii like the plague. The same could be said of apEX, who is showing no signs of age catching up to him despite reaping all the benefits that over a decade of experience brings. Then, teams are picking their fight with one of flameZ, ZywOo, or ropz, all of whom are world-class at the top of their game right now.
Simply put, it’s a miserable time for any team facing Vitality at the moment. The quality is clear across the board, and absolutely nothing shows this better than a glance at the statline for Vitality’s players in the ESL Pro League Final.
There’s no standout performer – it’s just Counter-Strike excellence everywhere you look, which is why MOUZ failed to post double-digit rounds on any map in this 3:0 drubbing. Consistency comes and goes, for sure, but we’re in the middle of a hell of a tidal wave for Vitality right now.
Most would say ZywOo was the third-best CS2 player in 2024, behind m0NESY and donk. I’d agree with that sentiment, but in 2025, ZywOo is writing a new chapter in his story. There’s a reason many believe this man to be the best Counter-Strike player of all time, me included (sorry, s1mple). If there was any drop in form last year, it’s back now. Facing ZywOo is scary all over again. Just ask MOUZ after this Final. They were made to regret making him go negative on Dust2, as he top-fragged on Nuke and Inferno to ensure his team kept a clean record on the way to the trophy.
He’s just oozing confidence right now. Any questions being asked of him on the server, he seems to have the answer, delivering in all of the highest-stakes scenarios. This ESL Pro League S21 Grand Final won’t be the biggest game of his career, but he supplied the goods regardless. This legend has never been more back, and ready to reclaim his crown as the best CS2 player in the world.
His reward here is another MVP award, taking his career total above s1mple’s for the first time. Sure, he might say he doesn’t care about individual accolades, but when the curtain draws on his career, he’ll be able to look back proudly on what he has (and will achieve). With this Vitality roster playing like this, more MVP awards are practically guaranteed.
One of the biggest reasons that every Counter-Strike dynasty must come to an end is plain old fatigue. It even killed off the legendary Astralis roster in the end. Given the utterly jam-packed 2025 CS2 tournament schedule, Vitality are going to face the same issue at some point. Hell, they play in three days at BLAST Open Spring 2025. The games are going to come thick and fast for Team Vitality, especially as they consistently make deep runs in every tournament they play. ESL Pro League is a particularly tough gauntlet, but there will be even more long tournaments throughout the year.
We might be some time away from this really becoming a problem yet, but I really want to see how Vitality handle the fatigue of the season ahead. Only last year, we saw the exact same thing happen to NAVI, who right now look utterly void of confidence. Vitality will surely decline some invites, which will help, but a curious test awaits.
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