Welcome to EGamersWorld.
No sooner has IEM Melbourne 2025 finished than the top Counter-Strike 2 is back on our screens with BLAST Rivals Season 1 matches. The $350,000 tournament will feature 8 teams.
Among the participants of BLAST Rivals Season 1 all the top teams in the world. Including the best team of 2025 Vitality.
Vitality Long Sogpeg at BLAST Rivals Season 1 with a match against Wildcard. Let's see if Wildcard can give Vitality a fight or if it will end more than predictable.
Let's go.
Vitality's uniform
Let's open the Vitality vs Wildcard match with an analysis of Vitality's form. In this match Vitality play as favourites with odds to win at around 1.1.
After the triumphant Paris Major a Vitality said goodbye to Dupreeh, and flameZ took his place. The "newcomer" Vitality has already had time to adapt and looks good: the young Israeli has KDA 1.09 and this is the third result of the team. He, by the way, started his ascent on the big stage just with OG.
- Vitality roster: apEX, ZywOo, mezii, ropz, flameZ.
In their debut match at IEM Cologne 2023 Vitality only confirmed their status as one of the main favourites of Group B. OG tried, but were defeated 16-6 by Mirage and 16-13 by Anubis.
After defeating OG, Vitality took on MOUZ, who were dealt an even bigger blow by the Bees, 16-4 and 16-5.
In the match for seeding in the play-offs Vitality met another top club - G2 Esports. A nerve-wracking game where Vitality pulled out a 19-17 win on Inferno in the extra time, but then lost 10-16 to Vertigo and 8-16 to Mirage.
Starting the play-offs from the first round stumbled Cloud9. "Cloud9 tried to fight back and almost succeeded on the second map, but ZywOo and company were undeterred: 16-11 Mirage and 19-17 Inferno. However, this was the end of Vitality's stay at the tournament: they met ENCE in the semi-finals and lost with 1-2 score and dropped out of the championship.
The top 4 at IEM Cologne did not embarrass Vitality at all, on the contrary - it fuelled them. Before the end of the year they pocketed 3 more wins at title tournaments: they took revenge on ENCE in the Gamers8 Grand Final and beat FaZe twice at BLAST tournaments (Fall Final 2023 and World Final 2023).
Before playing at PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024: European RMR B played BLAST Premier: Spring Groups, where they passed the group stage without any problems and at IEM Katowice 2024, where they failed very unexpectedly, finishing top-12.
At the PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024: European RMR B Vitality stomped GamerLegion and Heroic without any problems, giving up a total of 5 rounds in two maps. And then it was worse - a loss by C9, but a win over ENCE allowed Vitality to reach the Major.
Vitality attended the first Major tournament of the season - PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024, where they managed to reach the top 4, but Ledge and FaZe Clan. Later they played at ESL Pro League Season 19, where they again started very cheerfully and easily made it to the grand finals, but there they were swept by MOUZ.
At the IEM Dallas 2024 Long Season, they started with a very difficult win over Monte, and then closed G2 Esports dry. But in the match for seeding in the play-offs quite unexpectedly Ledge and 9z Team with a score 0-2. The play-offs IEM Dallas 2024 started much more confidently, closing Heroic with 2-0. Then a confident win over Spirit, but a loss to G2 Esports in the grand finals.
Before appearing at Esports World Cup 2024, Vitality attended Blast Premier: Spring Final, where they reached the Top 4. At EWC 2024, Vitaltiy Long Sogpeg started off with a solid win over M80, which allowed them to go straight into the play-offs.
At the "Major in Riyadh" Vitality finished in the top 8, which is hardly a good result. They were quickly rehabilitated by winning the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2024. At the end of the season they visited PW Shanghai Major 2024, where they reached the main stage, but failed against FaZe in the first round.
Long Cologne 2025 season started with an appearance at BLAST Bounty Season 1, where they managed to reach the final stage, but not beyond the first round: defeat by Eternal Fire and final top 8.
At IEM Katowice 2025 Vitality started their performance right from the group stage. They defeated 3DMax and FaZe in turn, which gave them passage to the final of Group A and a slot in the play-offs. Then they defeated Vp with the score 2-0, thanks to which they got straight to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, they handled a pretty chippy MongolZ, and in the grand finals they ate Spirit, swatting the best team in the world 3-0.
At ESL Pro League Season 21 Vitality made it through the group stage with a 3-0 win. Next up were wins over Liquid (2-0), MongolZ (2-1) and a triumph in the grand final against MOUZ (3-0).
At BLAST Open Lisbon 2025 Long Sogpeg started with a clean win against Astralis (2-0). Followed with a win against Vp with a similar 2-0 score. In the play-offs seeding match they beat MOUZ 2-0. In the grand final match they beat Spirit (2-1). In the grand final, they defeated MOUZ 3-2.
At IEM Melbourne 2025, Vitality won Group B and progressed straight to the semi-finals. In the grand final match, they ran over The MongolZ without a chance, closing the match with a 13-3 score on two maps. In the grand final against Falcons Vitality showed a real masterclass, beating Falcons 3-2 in one of the best grand finals in history.
Vitality Mappool.
The best Vitality map is Nuke. It has 4 matches and 4 wins.
Anubis (7 matches, 85% wins), Mirage (4 matches, 75% wins) are very good. In general, Vitality doesn't have any bad cards that they play. Vertigo - 71% wins in 7 matches, Inferno and Overpass - 3 wins in 5 matches.
Ancient is not played.
Wildcard Form.
We continue the analysis of the Wildcard vs Vitality match with an analysis of Wildcard's form. In this match they are playing as the number two with odds in the region of 15.
The American club is on the 22nd line of the world ranking from HLTV. They managed to get so high thanks to a pretty good game at PW Shanghai Major 2024.
- Wildcard roster: stanislaw, sonic, phzy, susp, JBa.
Wildcard can safely be called newcomers of the CS2 competitive scene. The team appeared on the radar of eSports Counter-Strike in 2023.
During their debut season, Wildcard played in numerous tournaments, mostly TIR-B and TIR-C. These were Thunderpick World Championship 2023: North American Series, ESEA Pro Seris and others. There showed very good performance, winning them consistently. There were also attempts at title tournaments, such as Thunderpick World Championship 2024, which was the only TIR-S tournament of the year. Wildcard finished in the top 18, which is not a good result.
In the 2024 season, they continued to play at roughly the same level and also occasionally made it to title tournaments. Among them in the 2024 season were IEM Chengdu 2024, where Wildcard finished in the top 16, and ESL Pro League Season 20, where Stanislaw and company finished in the top 28.
The team's main achievement during 2024 was reaching the PW Shanghai Major 2024. At the first World Championship in the history of the club, the team got through Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: American RMR with TOP-1-2.
At PW Shanghai Major 2024, Wildcard Long Team started with a win over Fnatic, but then lost to Liquid and FURIA. Next, Wildcard sent home Vp, coming out on a 2-2 score. In the decisive Opening Stage match, they shut out Passion UA, advancing to the Elimination Stage. However, the Elimination Stage was clearly not enough for Wildcard and the team finished 0-3 without any chances.
In the season 2025 Wildcard Long competed in BLAST Bounty Season 1: Closed Qualifier, where they lost in the first round to Astralis and ended up in TOP-32. Later they attended IEM Katowice 2025, where they finished in the top 20, but failed to make it past the group stage.
At the PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 Wildcard Long Long Competed with a clean victory over MIBR with the score 2-0. However, this was the end of Wildcard's "successful" performance: they lost to MongolZ, Vp and BIG in turn, finishing the tournament on the 13th position.
After failing at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, Wildcard returned to their home harbour and won the North American qualifiers for Austin Major 2025.
Wildcard Mapple
The best map for Wildcard remains Ancient, where Wildcard won 3 maps out of 3 played. Among the frequently played ones is Overpass - where Vp have played 11 maps, of which they have won 9.
In the pool there is a good Anubis (3-1 on maps), Mirage (6 wins in 9 matches) and Inferno (7 wins in 11 games).
The worst choice for Wildcard is Vertigo. It has a 44% win rate with 9 matches
History of head-to-head meetings between Vitality and Wildcard
So far the teams have not played each other in head-to-head meetings.
Predicted result of Vitality - Wildcard on BLAST Rivals Season 1
It's hard to imagine what would have to happen for Vitality to lose to Wildcard. Even after their recent gruelling win at IEM Melbourne 2025, after which Vitality definitely need a rest, they won't lose to Wildcard.
Bottom line: Vitality 2-0.
#76
CPH Wolves
#97
Iberian SoulWatch match
