Dominant Vitality set up Spirit clash at Budapest Major

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 11/12/2025

Vitality recaptured some of their best Counter-Strike to sweep aside The MongolZ at the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025.

The match was a rematch of Vitality’s era-defining BLAST.tv Austin Major, evoking that era in multiple ways.

Next up in their semi-final, Vitality will face Spirit, who eliminated Falcons in Thursday’s other quarter-final.

ZywOo gives Vitality Mirage momentum

The MongolZ looked capable of recapturing their Stage 3 form early in the contest, in a frenetic start between the two rosters.

That is, until Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut broke The MongolZ apart in the eighth round of the contest to equalise the match 4-4.

From then on, Vitality largely did not look back in what was a controlled performance on Mirage.

The MongolZ would only capture one more round in the map as Vitality exerted their dominance.

While Unudelger ‘controlez’ Baasanjargal had somehow looked every bit ready for Tier 1 in Stage 3, he could not muster that fight on the big stage.

After a 7-5 CT-side, Vitality won every single T-side round to walk to the map 13-5.

Dust 2

Dust 2 was a similar story, where a brawly beginning gave way to a one-sided shape.

This time it was Robin ‘ropz’ Kool who provided a 1v3 clutch to seemingly break the back of the Mongolian roster.

Despite the best efforts of Ayush ‘mzinho’ Batbold, who managed a 14/9 K/D on the CT-side, Vitality expertly manipulated The MongolZ to get advantages for mid splits and catwalk-focussed attacks.

The result was an 8-4 half, and a quick CT-sided conversion gave Vitality a 13-4 win on Dust 2, giving Vitality yet another semi-final Major berth.

Vitality once again showed their ability to move as one, as they crushed The MongolZ’s Major chances in ruthless fashion.

Ultimately The MongolZ have had a historic year for Asian CS, but the year was too long for the roster which was deprived of its individually best player in Azbayar ‘⁠Senzu⁠’ Munkhbold.

The Grand Final of the BLAST.tv Austin Major will remain the highwater mark for the special group of national players.

Vitality will also not want to look back on that moment as a distant height, as they seek to recapture the form they had in the first half of the year.

A comfortable 2-0 victory, where they overcame initial tests of both map bodes well in that sense but a clash against Spirit will be another level of challenge than the test MongolZ could muster.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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