Team Vitality’s legendary roster has once again lifted a trophy after defeating Aurora 3-1 in the Grand Final of StarLadder StarSeries Season 20.
The victory was Vitality’s first trophy of the Counter-Strike season, having fallen short at BLAST Bounty, EWC 2026, and BLAST Porto, where Justinas ‘jL’ Lekavičius stood in for William ‘mezii’ Merriman.
Vitality victory sets stage for PGL Singapore Major challenge
Vitality defeated Aurora 3-1 (13-4, 11-13, 13-4, 13-7) in an overall dominant performance to win StarLadder StarSeries Season 20, avenging their 2-1 Upper-Bracket defeat to Aurora in doing so.
Vitality dispatched Aurora easily on Anubis, Mirage, and Cache to claim the trophy, only dropping a tight Inferno contest that went the full 24 rounds.
Vitality AWPer Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut was undoubtedly the standout player of the series, putting up a 71/44 K/D to help Vitality return to the top of the podium, and adding to his case as player of the year, with Team Spirit’s Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets charging for the in-form Spirit who skipped the event.
Vitality only dropped maps to Aurora on their way to claiming the StarSeries title, defeating magic 2-0 and FURIA 2-0 twice in what was largely a return to form for the most successful team in Counter-Strike history.
The roster was restored to full strength after mezii returned from maternity leave after missing BLAST Porto to welcome his second child to the world.
However, Vitality’s roster disruption is not over, as IGL Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire is set to miss the PGL Bucharest Masters 2026 from October 24-31.
Vitality will next play ESL Pro League Season 24 in Katowice, where the roster will also be at full strength before BLAST Porto stand-in jL returns to Vitality for Bucharest.
Vitality will also miss IEM Beijing due to the difficulty of scheduling their roster in the period, meaning Vitality will have less than a month of consecutive time together in the run-up to the PGL Singapore 2026 Major.
That schedule puts stress on Vitality to get to their peak in a short timeframe, when other teams have the whole season together. At least in StarLadder StarSeries, they have shown they can win trophies when fully returned to full strength.
With StarSeries showing Vitality’s level is still above teams like FURIA, MOUZ, or the faltering NAVI, the question is whether Vitality can compete with absentee teams like Falcons or EWC and BLAST Porto winners Team Spirit.
Can Vitality win the PGL Singapore Major? Share your thoughts with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Also, check out our interview with Vitality Trackmania World Champion Pac. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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