5 years of Vitality in Counter-Strike
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  • 16:09, 08.10.2023

5 years of Vitality in Counter-Strike

Today, October 8, 2023, the French organization Vitality celebrates the fifth anniversary of the launch of its own Counter-Strike discipline. During this period, the esports club has become a leader in Counter-Strike and has made many fans fall in love with its game.

In 2018, Vitality announced its first roster:

  • Vincent "Happy" Schopenhauer
  • Nathan  "NBK-" Schmitt
  • Cédric "RpK" Guipouy
  • Dan "apEX" Madesclaire
  • Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut
  • Philippe "faculty" Rodier  

The first notable success came at DreamHack Open Atlanta 2018, where the team defeated Luminosity in the final and earned $50,000. In 2019, Vitality won WePlay! Lock and Load, Charleroi Esports 2019, cs_summit 4, Esports Championship Series Season 7 - Finals, and EPICENTER 2019. In addition, the team qualified for two of their first major events and even reached the quarterfinals at StarLadder Berlin Major 2019.

Moment of rewind at DreamHack Open Atlanta 2018 | Image: Copyright DreamHack Adela Sznajder
Moment of rewind at DreamHack Open Atlanta 2018 | Image: Copyright DreamHack Adela Sznajder

During this period, the team's roster changed: Happy, NBK, and faculty left the team; they were replaced by Alexander "ALEX" McMeekin, Richard "shox" Papillon, and Remy "XTQZZZ" Quoniam.

At the beginning of 2020, Vitality made a key change: ALEX left and was joined by Kevin "misutaaa" Rabier. ApEX took over as captain. During that year, Vitality won two more titles and earned $621,000 in prize money.

In 2021, RpK left the team and was replaced by Jayson "Kyojin" Nguyen Van. However, the really key moment occurred in 2022, when Vitality decided to assemble an international team and switch to English. Multiple major champions Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen, Emil "Magisk" Reif, and Danny "zonic" Sørensen joined the team.

However, the success did not come overnight, with Lotan "Spinx" Giladi being the last piece of the puzzle, with whom Vitality won the ESL Pro League Season 16, IEM Rio 2023, and their first BLAST.tv Major Paris 2023. However, this was not enough, so the organization decided to invite the young Shahar "flameZ" Shushan to take the place of dupreeh. With the updated roster, they have already won Gamers8 2023.

Triumph at IEM Rio 2023 | Image: ESL Copyright | Adela Sznajder
Triumph at IEM Rio 2023 | Image: ESL Copyright | Adela Sznajder

Only ZywOo and apEX remained from the original Vitality roster. With them, the organization won 13 notable trophies, attended six majors, and earned $3,994,805 in prize money.

Vitality enters the new Counter-Strike era as one of the strongest teams, but the team will change its appearance in the near future. Zonic will definitely leave the team, and his former mentor XTQZZZZ may take his place. In addition, there are rumors about Magisk's departure.

Header image: TeamVitality Twitter

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