2025 has been an unbelievable 12 months for Workforce Vitality. A win at IEM Katowice noticed them full the trifecta of Cologne, Katowice, and a Main, while their wins on the BLAST Austin Main and the StarLadder Budapest Main have seen them grow to be the primary back-to-back Main winners because the legandary Astralis crew of 2018-2019.
Add on the very fact they received seven occasions in a row within the first half of the 12 months, and ended the 12 months on 9 occasions received in whole, it’s arduous to argue as their British star, William “mezii” Merriman calls them “the very best crew of all time.”
The Best Yr in CS Historical past
That stated, Vitality’s 12 months hasn’t been with out criticism. Following their successful streak and first Main trophy of the 12 months, occasion wins turned more and more arduous to come back by. They first missed out on a second IEM Cologne win, and losses within the finals of BLAST Open London and IEM Chengdu to G2 and FURIA appeared to sign that the Vitality period had come to an finish.
Nevertheless, it’s criticism that Mezii tells esports.internet he feels is unwarranted. He stated: “We made so many semi-finals and made some finals. Some we must always have received, in London we must always have crushed G2, but it surely didn’t occur.
“However I knew on this crew, we had been so assured that if we had been only a bit extra linked like we had been within the first a part of the 12 months, if we listened a bit higher to one another, then I used to be so assured that we’d get again to this stage.”
Given the extent of competitiveness in elite-level Counter-Strike nowadays, it’s nonetheless fairly arduous to fathom the precise weight of Vitality’s achievement. In a world the place Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov and Danil “donk” Kryshkovets at all times lie in wait, Vitality has nonetheless managed to place itself on a stage with Astralis, a crew so dominant that it appeared nobody would ever match them.
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An enormous purpose for that, although, is the energy of their stars. Though there’s an argument for m0NESY being the very best AWPer on the earth, and donk is actually the very best opener on the earth, Vitality have the very best IGL in Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, greatest lurker in Robin “ropz” Kool, and the very best participant in Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut. Even mezii, the quiet and unassuming Brit, has introduced himself as an elite anchor, the required glue that each one elite groups can’t hope to win with out.
“I’ve by no means been somebody who centered a lot on the person elements or centered an excessive amount of on being the very best in my position,” he stated. “However I stated to myself after going to the HLTV Awards final 12 months and seeing all these different gamers and all these different groups successful every part, it made me say ‘this must be our time and me individually, I should be a part of this, discovering my influence and stepping up as that second voice.’ So yeah, perhaps for this 12 months I’ve been the very best.”
As CS2 heads in the direction of its 2026 season, and as Vitality reminded everybody simply how robust they’re with their dominant grand last victory over FaZe Clan, they might properly go down within the historical past books as the best crew of all time. Nevertheless, with a busy rostermania anticipated, they’ll have to keep up their present stage in the event that they need to stay the very best crew proper now.
