“We all missed this”—Team Vitality players on their victory at StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026
In an interview at StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026, Team Vitality’s players and coach discussed their victory at the tournament, William “mezii” Merriman’s return to the starting lineup, and improvements to their map pool.
Team coach Rami “XTQZZZ” Kwoniam noted that Team Vitality’s main goal at the tournament was not only to win the trophy but also to improve their play following mezii’s return:
We had some good conversations this week. We wanted to get better. Of course, we wanted the trophy and to earn VRS points, but our primary goal was to improve as a team. We only had two days with mezii before the tournament, so to finish things off like this after such a long day… We played well. We improved our map pool a bit. So yeah, I’m happy today.
Rifler Shahar “flameZ” Shushan explained that Team Vitality managed to recover and prepare for the grand final after the semifinal against FURIA:
It wasn’t that difficult. The maps we won were pretty easy. The match against FURIA went by pretty quickly. And then we had about an hour and a half to just prepare and get our thoughts in order. And I think it was also nice to just play a warm-up match before the final. But yeah, we felt comfortable.
Robin “ropz” Kohl noted that the victory is helping the team gradually find its form after a slow start to the season:
That’s great. There’s a bit of a similarity to last year again. We started the season slowly, but I think we’re gradually picking up steam and getting better.
William “mezii” Merriman called his return to the roster and the tournament victory a pleasant moment, and also noted that the team had worked hard to get back to their usual level:
It’s nice to be back and win the trophy. We’ve worked hard to get back to our usual level. And, of course, we didn’t play our best yesterday, but today we got back to our usual level, and overall everything went pretty smoothly.
The team’s sniper, Mathieu “ZywOo” Erbo, said that playing well allowed him to enjoy the final even more:
I’m dominating again and getting another trophy in my hands. I missed this. I mean, we all missed this. It gets easier when you play well, when you have a smile on your face. So I think today was a good day. Definitely.
Captain Dan “apEX” Madeskler stated that the team had a strong tournament overall, with the exception of the semifinal match against Aurora Gaming, and also specifically highlighted their work on the map pool:
Today was a great day. I think if you look at how we played throughout the tournament, with the exception of yesterday, it was really good. Yesterday we were very poor individually, and they played very well, too. But today we pulled it together and played really well all day. Inferno was a bit chaotic on our T-side because what we asked of the guys was that they needed to communicate a little more when controlling the map, since yesterday was complete chaos. And today, they had too many ideas. But then, once we gained control, we did what I told them to do. I think winning on Anubis and Mirage this way sends a message to us. We’ve won three Mirage matches and two Anubis matches in a row here. That’s good for us. That’s good. We needed to improve our map pool. That’s exactly what we’re working on right now. And yes, we’re on the right track. And, of course, to be honest, this isn’t the biggest tournament, since some of the top teams weren’t here—Team Falcons, Team Spirit, the biggest ones. But, to be honest, we don’t really care. We just wanted to win the trophy and then prepare for the next tournament.
Earlier, Team Vitality won the StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026 Counter-Strike 2 championship. In the tournament’s grand final, the “Bees” defeated Aurora Gaming 3–1 in a best-of-five series and earned $200,000 in prize money.
Photo: StarLadder.
