Xaxas
20.11.2025
The Esports Awards 2025 in Las Vegas delivered a big night for Counter-Strike 2. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut won Best PC Esports Player, and Team Vitality earned Esports Team of the Year.
These awards highlight how dominant Vitality were early in 2025, but they also arrive at a moment when the team is searching for answers.
Vitality’s award is rooted in a historic first half of the year. The team won titles at IEM Katowice, ESL Pro League Seasons 21 and 22, BLAST Open Spring, BLAST Rivals Spring, IEM Melbourne, IEM Dallas, the BLAST.tv Austin Major, and they closed the run with the ESL Grand Slam Season 5.
No team matched their consistency or firepower. Their run made them the clear top team in the world.
ZywOo was once again the most impactful player in CS2. He collected multiple MVP awards, delivered elite consistency at every major event, and remained the key factor behind Vitality’s early success.
Even so, he has not fully been able to pull the team out of its recent struggles.
Despite strong fundamentals, Vitality’s form slipped in the second half of 2025. They reached multiple semifinals and finals, but their dominance faded. Runner-up finishes at IEM Chengdu and BLAST Open Fall exposed recurring issues in late-round situations.
Vitality repeatedly lost 5v4, 4v3 and even 1v5 rounds. Their semifinal loss to Falcons at BLAST Rivals Season 2 showed the same pattern. flameZ later admitted the team lacked clarity and needed better structure.
Vitality remain dangerous, but not the unstoppable force they were earlier in the year.
While Vitality stalled, FURIA transformed into the strongest team heading into Budapest. They won four titles since the summer break and dominated Vitality at both IEM Chengdu and BLAST Rivals Season 2. molodoy has emerged as a top CS2 player, and FalleN’s leadership is producing disciplined, confident play.
Falcons have also surged. With m0NESY and NiKo in top form and improved teamwork, they have beaten Vitality multiple times and now look like real Major contenders.
The Budapest Major is the last event of the year and the stage where everything will be decided.
Vitality’s key questions are clear: Can they fix their late-round issues? Can the roster settle under pressure? Can they rebuild their map pool? And will the awards give them the confidence boost they need?
FURIA and Falcons enter Budapest as favorites. Vitality enter as a dangerous dark horse capable of either a deep championship run or an early exit.
Vitality and ZywOo earned their awards through a historic first half of 2025. But the Budapest Major will determine whether they can revive that form or whether a new era, led by FURIA or Falcons, is about to begin.
Budapest will tell the true story of 2025.
Xaxas
20.11.2025
Article TAGS
News Feed
9z enter Stake Ranked Episode 2 as the tournament's hottest team, but magic's upset potential and FaZe's unpredictability make this bracket far from settled. Here is your complete Pick'ems breakdown.
9z completed one of the most impressive playoff runs in XSE Pro League history, sweeping PARIVISION in the Grand Final to claim the organization's first international LAN trophy after a string of three-map thrillers.
CS2's skin economy is losing value across the board, and the gold trade-up update appears to have done lasting damage to the confidence of ordinary players who trusted real money in the market.
Eight teams. No second chances. The XSE Pro League 2026 playoffs are set, and every Pick'ems decision from here determines where you finish on the monthly leaderboard.
PGL Bucharest 2026 opens its Swiss Stage on April 3 with eight Round 1 matchups that will define early Pick'ems standings at one of CS2's most significant A-Tier events of the year.
PGL Bucharest 2026's Swiss stage opened with immediate chaos as heavy favorites fell and breakout teams rewrote the playoff picture. Here is a full recap of Rounds 1 through 4 and what it all means for your Pick'ems standings.
Valve surprised the CS2 community with a sweeping Steam Market overhaul that brings item browsing up to third-party site standards. The update retroactively generated images for 27 million existing listings, but the 15% fee and no cash withdrawals remain unchanged.
XSE Pro League Guangzhou descended into chaos before a single round was played, with tech failures, a power outage, a hacked Steam account, and reports of malicious software putting the $1,000,000 tournament under the harshest scrutiny the CS2 scene has seen in years.
MOUZ upset the field to win BLAST Bounty Summer 2026, beating Team Spirit 3-1 in the grand final in Malta. Spinx earned MVP in the new roster's first tournament victory, signalling a strong start to the Singapore Major season.
Team Spirit closed out Esports World Cup 2026 with a 3-1 grand final win over FUT Esports, capping a single elimination bracket that saw FURIA, Legacy, and a red hot FUT run all fall short of the trophy.