Vitality Are Following the Script — Last Year’s Script

Vitality are the IEM Krakow champions. The team cruised through the final and left little room for real intrigue. Sounds like a standard story about the Bees dominating the scene. But here’s the twist: we could have written the exact same article a year ago — only replacing Krakow with Katowice.

And that’s where the real esports déjà vu begins.

French Déjà Vu — Same Tournaments, Same Results, January Struggles Forge Champions, What If the Trend Continues?, One Step Away From the Grand Slam

French Déjà Vu — Same Tournaments, Same Results

Either the BLAST Bounty format simply doesn’t suit Vitality, or the team — like the rest of us — struggles to get back to work after the New Year holidays. For the second year in a row, the first event of the season turned into a cold shower for the favorites. And for the second year in a row, it didn’t stop them from dominating the scene immediately afterward.

In 2025, the season opener was also the debut tournament for ropz in a Vitality jersey. The transfer looked like the final piece of a perfect machine, and fans expected instant domination. That eventually happened, but the honeymoon phase didn’t go as planned. Vitality lost their very first match 0–2 to Eternal Fire and ended their run just one step short of the semifinals.

In 2026, the script changed slightly — but only slightly. Vitality went one step further and reached the semifinals, yet couldn’t go beyond that. Falcons found the winning formula: they managed to shut down ZywOo, while NiKo delivered a monstrous 1.37 rating performance. The result surprised many, especially considering Vitality had lost only two of their previous seven matches against the Falcons.

January Struggles Forge Champions

Two years in a row, January setbacks have worked like an ice bath for Vitality. Painful, cold, uncomfortable — but incredibly effective. Just one month later, the team transforms into a flawless machine that simply stops making mistakes and wins the biggest tournaments of the winter season without dropping a single series.

Coincidence? Pattern? Or the start of a new tradition?

What If the Trend Continues?

If esports scriptwriters are out of new ideas, we might be heading toward another year of total Vitality dominance. Last season, the first Tier-1 event not won by the French squad didn’t happen until summer — at IEM Cologne.

That tournament was won by Team Spirit. Interestingly, Magixx is now gaining experience as an in-game leader, which means he might be ready to challenge Vitality again by the time Cologne arrives.

As for Falcons, the outlook is less optimistic. If we really are stuck in an esports time loop, zonic may once again miss out on lifting a major trophy.

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One Step Away From the Grand Slam

Vitality are now just one ESL tournament victory away from the Grand Slam. In 2025, they secured it in the spring. History loves to repeat itself — and now the Bees have a chance to turn that into a tradition.

The script seems written. The only question is whether anyone can rewrite it.