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Team Vitality Win Fifth Straight Title of 2026 at BLAST Rivals Spring
Yet another grand final, yet another trophy lift for Team Vitality. apEX and company swept Natus Vincere 3-0 in the BLAST Rivals Spring 2026 grand final in Fort Worth, Texas, claiming their fifth consecutive title and extending one of the most dominant runs in CS2 history.
The 11-0 Comeback on Nuke
When NAVI went up 11-0 on Nuke, everyone would’ve thought it was over. B1ad3's side were absolutely rolling, going 4-0 in clutches and looking unstoppable. But they were nowhere near perfect, and the cracks were already showing. makazze kept dying in key spots on the map, gifting Vitality a string of 4v4s that they slowly started to turn in their favor.
And then the switch flipped. Vitality on CT-side were a completely different team. They suffocated NAVI with their perfect utility, spamming smoke in the yard and just making life miserable for their rivals round after round. ropz, who had been looking quiet the entirety of their run in the US, suddenly turned into a one-man wrecking crew with three crucial 1v1 wins. ZywOo and mezii chipped in with clutches of their own, and just like that, the 11-0 lead had evaporated all the way into overtime. apEX claimed post-match he "knew exactly what they'd do" on T-side, and the scoreline is proof of that.
Map two, Anubis, was similarly tense. NAVI led 11-9 before Vitality reeled off the last four rounds to win 13-11. It was another momentum swing that Natus Vincere couldn't recover from psychologically, and on Dust2 they never got chance to start.
NAVI IGL Aleksib acknowledged the magnitude of what slipped away:
"It's the biggest lead you can have against this team, and we didn't capitalize on it."
A Record That Keeps Growing
Vitality have now won 27 consecutive playoff maps since IEM Krakow's grand final, second only to Ninjas in Pyjamas' legendary 36-map streak from 2012-13. NAVI, meanwhile, have lost 12 maps in a row against Vitality stretching back nearly two years to IEM Cologne 2024.
With IEM Atlanta on the horizon, Vitality barely have time to enjoy the trophy before they plan on lifting the next one.
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Featured Image Credit: Stephanie Lindgren/BLAST
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