Vitality lift third straight trophy with BLAST Open Lisbon victory over MOUZ

apEX's side extended their series winstreak to 16 and fulfilled their promise to give ropz his first BLAST trophy.

Vitality are the champions of BLAST Open Lisbon after beating MOUZ for the second time in as many weeks in the best-of-five grand final, although this time they were made to work for it in a series that went the distance.

MOUZ were 0-7 in maps to Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool's Vitality coming into the final, and it looked as if it would go from bad to worse after a 13-0 drubbing to kick off the series.

Two great maps out of Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi helped MOUZ recover with 13-11 wins on Mirage and Dust2, but they couldn't convert on that lead after Vitality ran away the victors on Nuke and Train.

Three trophies in a row, 16-series winstreak — are we in the Vitality era?

The trophy lift continues Vitality's dominance since adding ropz, becoming their third title in a row after IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League Season 21.

The team has looked nigh-unstoppable with the Estonian in tow, boasting a 10-0 record on Inferno, a 9-1 record on Dust2, and a 4-0 record on Train after this grand final.

The win extends Vitality's series winstreak to 16 in a row, making it the fourth-best of all-time and only one win shy of the dynastic Astralis' 17.

It might be a little to early to call this an era, but the dominance Vitality are showing, their three trophies in a row, and sitting one title away from the ESL Grand Slam is going a long way in bringing that conversation to the forefront.

Vitality make history

Inferno was a masterstroke from Vitality, who extended their map winstreak to 10 in a row with their most indomitable showing yet.

Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire was in Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin's head from the first round and called circles around MOUZ, garnering a flawless offensive half before sealing victory with the second pistol round, making it the first time a team won a map 13-0 or 16-0 in a Big Event grand final.

MOUZ had a few chances early on — losing three 1v2s in the first six rounds — but were otherwise completely outclassed and abused.

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut arrived like the MVP he is, putting up a 13-2 K-D, 2.19-rated performance (combined with a 14-6 K-D, 115.3 ADR, and 1.88 rating from Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan) to seemingly set the stage for an even more dominant win than two weeks ago at EPL.

Spinx leads MOUZ to first map win over his former team in 2025

MOUZ finally got on the board, two maps and 16 rounds into the series, off the back of a triple kill from Spinx. The Israeli rifler was nigh-unstoppable in the half as he laid waste to his former teammates, bagging a 19-6 K-D as the cherry on top of some great T side calling by Brollan for a 9-3 lead.

Somehow, Spinx's incredible effort almost wasn't enough as Vitality pulled back in the second half, punishing MOUZ's overly-passive CT defense.

William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman made up for a dismal CT half and ropz found some impactful multi-kills, but their 6-12 comeback was halted at the eleventh hour after MOUZ shut down an A split to tally their first map win in eight tries against this Vitality roster.

"Spinx was very vocal outside [after map one]," Dennis "⁠sycrone⁠" Nielsen told James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks between maps. "Usually for this group with his experience, he keeps the guys calm, but on this map he took it into his own hands. But for us to win everyone needs to step up."

Spinx tallied his fourth-best playoffs map of all time on Mirage

And step up, they did. Vitality edged out the lead at halftime on Dust2 thanks to some excellence from ZywOo, but the pistol, conversion, and two 1v1s going the way of Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo kept MOUZ within reach of the lead.

Brollan called another excellent T side, and another triple from Spinx helped MOUZ unfreeze when things got close.

The 13-11 victory brought an end to Vitality's nine-map winstreak on Dust2 and gave MOUZ their first series lead over apEX's troops, but they were in for a rude awakening on Nuke.

MOUZ improve, but still not enough to overcome Vitality

They won both pistols yet lost the map 7-13, unable to overcome another exceptional 1.80-rated showing by ZywOo and an immovable mezii on the upper bombsite.

Nothing seemed to be going MOUZ's way, a kill by flameZ flying up the ladder adding insult to injury in the second half, and that dominance continued on Train.

Both teams had 3-0 records on the map heading into the decider, but Vitality's streak is the only one that will continue after they ran over MOUZ on A for much of the first half.

Again MOUZ won both pistols but only only walked away with seven rounds, unable to stop a flameZ and ZywOo-powered onslaught from Vitality who romped to their third trophy in a row.

BLAST Open Lisbon 2025Best of 5 MOUZMatchpage 2 3 30th March 2025 Vitality 0Inferno 13 13Mirage 11 13Dust2 11 7Nuke 13 7Train 13

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.1
Lotan 'Spinx' GiladiSpinx	74 - 62	+12	81.5	1.03
Jimi 'Jimpphat' SaloJimpphat	62 - 55	+7	71.3	0.99
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsástorzsi	58 - 61	-3	61.6	0.86
Dorian 'xertioN' BermanxertioN	53 - 75	-22	66.1	0.83
Ludvig 'Brollan' BrolinBrollan	47 - 78	-31	55.6	0.71

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.1
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	83 - 55	+28	88.5	1.39
Robin 'ropz' Koolropz	67 - 53	+14	68.8	1.12
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	66 - 67	-1	75.8	1.09
Shahar 'flameZ' ShushanflameZ	66 - 61	+5	70.9	1.08
William 'mezii' Merrimanmezii	48 - 62	-14	57.4	0.89

Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo Age: 18 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 667 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.61 Ludvig 'Brollan' Brolin Age: 22 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1414 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.67 Vitality #2 Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireRobin 'ropz' KoolMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautShahar 'flameZ' ShushanWilliam 'mezii' Merriman Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam Astralis #12 Nicolai 'device' ReedtzCasper 'cadiaN' MøllerMartin 'stavn' LundJakob 'jabbi' NygaardVictor 'Staehr' Staehr Casper 'ruggah' Due MOUZ #4 Ludvig 'Brollan' BrolinÁdám 'torzsi' TorzsásLotan 'Spinx' GiladiJimi 'Jimpphat' SaloDorian 'xertioN' Berman Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen Robin 'ropz' Kool Age: 25 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 1607 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.61 James 'BanKs' Banks Age: 34 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.00 Maps played: 0 KPR: 0.00 DPR: 0.00 Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi Age: 24 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 845 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.64 Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen Age: 29 Team: MOUZC Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan Age: 21 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 806 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.66 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Age: 24 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.27 Maps played: 1420 KPR: 0.84 DPR: 0.60 Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Age: 32 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 2406 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.69 William 'mezii' Merriman Age: 26 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 916 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.63