Vitality best The MongolZ to win the Austin Major

Vitality have crowned their nearly perfect season with a Major trophy, their seventh tournament win in a row.

Vitality have taken down The MongolZ 2-1 in the grand final of the BLAST.tv Austin Major, recovering from a devastating 5-13 start on Mirage with dominant wins on Dust2 and Inferno to finish the first half of the year with a Major trophy.

Entering the Major as heavy favorites, red flags were raised when Vitality fumbled their opening match against Brazilian underdogs Legacy, putting an unceremonious end to their impressive 30-series win streak.

Date	Matches
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
12/06/2025	Vitality Finished 3:13 Legacy	Match
13/06/2025	Vitality Finished 13:6 Nemiga	Match
13/06/2025	3DMAX Finished 2:13 Vitality	Match
14/06/2025	Virtus.pro Finished 0:2 Vitality	Match
20/06/2025	Natus Vincere Finished 0:2 Vitality	Match
21/06/2025	MOUZ Finished 1:2 Vitality	Match
22/06/2025	Vitality Finished 2:1 The MongolZ	Match

Despite the early fumble, Vitality immediately found their footing, cruising past Nemiga, 3DMAX, and Virtus.pro to reach the playoffs. Vitality kept up their momentum into the playoffs, knocking out international rivals Natus Vincere and MOUZ before taking down The MongolZ in a three-map series.

apEX: "You can already see the best team of 2025"

This result confirms one thing that we already knew: Vitality are unquestionably the best team of the first half of 2025, and the international side have already set themselves up for the honor of team of the year.

Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's troops have now laid claim to seven consecutive tournament victories, an almost-flawless season blemished only by a quarter-final finish from the BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 1 Finals.

"I'm sorry Magisk, but +ropz is the best move of all time," apEX told Eefje "⁠sjokz⁠" Depoortere on stage post-game. "Seven trophies in seven tournaments, what else can you do? Guys, you can already see the best team of 2025. It's done!"

Vitality's seven-consecutive wins:

• IEM Katowice 2025

• ESL Pro League Season 21

• BLAST Open Lisbon 2025

• IEM Melbourne 2025

• BLAST Rivals 2025 Season 1

• IEM Dallas 2025

• BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025

With seven straight tournament wins, a 30-series win streak topped only by Ninjas in Pyjamas's legendary 87-0 streak, an ESL Grand Slam, and now a Major victory, it seems fair to say that apEX has led Vitality to an era. All that remains to be seen is how long the European side will keep it up, and whether they burn out or rise to be among the greats like Astralis.

Record-setting for Vitality's members

Vitality's victory in Austin is important to the team's individual members for several reasons. With this win, captain apEX now joins an illustrious club of players who have at least three Major wins to their names, alongside the legendary Astralis five as well as Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell, Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist, and Markus "⁠pronax⁠" Wallsten.

apEX has now taken the honor of most tournament victories, 33 overall, just ahead of recently retired Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen. For Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut, a Major MVP will place him alongside Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David and Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz as the only players to earn two Major MVPs, while he would also tie the latter player for most Big Event MVPs in a single year at seven.

Finally, William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman's triumph in Austin also secures the United Kingdom its first-ever Major victory, along with Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan's first Major win.

Close but no cigar for The MongolZ

The MongolZ have been a regular fixture in Big Event playoffs throughout 2025, but the team has, until now, come up short of reaching the grand finals, let alone winning one outright.

Garidmagnai "⁠bLitz⁠" Byambasuren's men have faced frequent accusations of stage fright, and arena victories over only the likes of Aurora and Liquid did little to set aside these claims. After pushing past a FaZe squad with a stand-in in tow and heavy underdogs paiN, many expected The MongolZ to crumble in the face of Vitality, by far the best team of 2025.

Although The MongolZ failed to make history for APAC with a Major victory, the team displayed some impressive form on the big stage, particularly with their 13-5 Mirage victory. Azbayar "⁠Senzu⁠" Munkhbold, who has been oft-criticized for going quiet in stage games, found impact with a number of clutches throughout the series that helped keep his team competitive, even if they did not lead to a Major win.

The all-important series kicked off on The MongolZ's pick of Mirage, a map that went the distance in the last meeting between the two sides.

After facing an early 0-3 deficit thanks to a pistol round loss, The MongolZ roared ahead on the offense, letting just two more rounds slip from their grasp as Senzu and Usukhbayar "⁠910⁠" Banzragch ripped the European side to shreds. The MongolZ kept up their winning ways into the CT-side, racking up a quick streak of six rounds to lock down their pick with a resounding 13-5 scoreline.

Despite the unexpected start, Vitality remained composed as the series shifted into Dust2. Another pistol-round victory for the European contingent gave them the runway for a 6-0 start, and this time around The MongolZ's T-side resurgence never came.

A stunning 1v3 from Senzu helped give The MongolZ at least a lifeline heading into their CT-side, but bLitz's troops only managed to scrounge together one more round before faltering 4-13.

Although The MongolZ managed to lay claim to the opening pistol of Inferno, bLitz's men were immediately put on the back foot off the back of a 1v2 from ZywOo in the anti-eco round.

Vitality thoroughly capitalized on this newfound momentum, shutting out The MongolZ in all but two of the remaining rounds of the first half, with apEX leading by example on the defense. With yet another pistol win under their belt, Vitality soon turned a 9-3 half into a 13-6 win, securing the 2-1 series victory and the Major trophy.

More highlights from Vitality vs. The MongolZ:

• The MongolZ scrape together a 2v3 to get on the board

• Techno clutches a 2v4 with a 1v2

• 910 triple keeps Vitality at bay

• ropz quad locks MongolZ out of B

• apEX denies mzinho's 1v3 attempt

• ZywOo 3k earns Vitality an eco win

• mzinho eco 4k gives The MongolZ something to work with