Two months into the new season, Vitality — a team that looked unshakable as recently as the summer of 2024 — has yet to secure a single trophy. A string of three consecutive semi-final exits has left the squad in an awkward position: consistent, but once again locked out of finals. Now, at BLAST Open London 2025, the French-British roster has a chance to break this trend — and to do so under the added pressure of playing in front of a home crowd. At the center of this story is William “mezii” Merriman, the British rifler who, for the first time since joining Vitality, is feeling a real “buff” both from playing at home and from HLTV’s new Rating 3.0.
From Results to Quality of Play: What Worries Vitality
mezii admits straight away: the team is less frustrated with the results themselves than with the manner in which they’ve lost. Vitality remain among the elite, but they’ve lost the quality that once made them a “comeback machine.”
We’ve played CS that hasn’t been very well connected. When things go badly, individuals try to make more moves to save the situation. But we need to get back to team play and trading, doing things together. This season we’ve been a bit messy in that aspect, and that’s why our T-sides have looked so weak, the Brit explains.
The diagnosis reads like a textbook case of a “DNA break.” Vitality succeeded when they relied on discipline, team cohesion, and deep understanding of pressure moments. In 2025, however, they’ve become overly dependent on individual improvisation.
Economy, Anti-Stratting, and the Opponent Factor
mezii also acknowledges external factors. The CS2 economy changes have made the attacking side more difficult for everyone, but for Vitality it has exposed weaknesses. On top of that, the player break gave other teams more time to thoroughly study the French-British lineup.
In some matches you can feel that opponents had time to anti-strat us. That’s normal, but then it’s our job to find new approaches and switch up our game. It’s been a big lesson for us, he stresses.
On the other hand, the individual form of rivals has also become a challenge. mezii admits that when facing The MongolZ or Spirit, it feels like “you just can’t miss a single bullet” — such is the level of mechanical execution from those teams. And if last year Vitality could get away with mistakes thanks to the sheer strength of their individuals, now they are punished harshly for them.
The Home Factor: Pressure and Opportunity
London holds a special meaning for mezii. Rarely does a player get to perform on LAN in his own country, which makes this tournament even more significant.
Last year was an incredible experience. This time I want a different result — we’ve become more confident and stronger. It would be amazing to lift a trophy here, he notes.
It is also notable that several of Vitality’s biggest rivals — Spirit, The MongolZ, and Falcons — are absent from the tournament. On the one hand, this reduces the level of difficulty; on the other, it increases the pressure: any failure in such a field of participants would look all the more painful.
mezii’s Personal Form: Stat Buff or Real Progress?
A separate part of the interview touches on the Brit’s individual numbers. The introduction of Rating 3.0, which values clutches and impactful plays more highly, has suddenly placed him above flameZ in the team’s statistical hierarchy. mezii himself remains calm about it:
It’s nice, but it’s not something I focus on. For me, it’s more important to feel confident in the game and bring impact to the team — whether that’s in communication or morale. It’s good that the stats now reflect that, but the main thing is being useful in any way possible.
His words highlight the gap between media perception (“a supportive player without big numbers”) and his actual role within the team.
What’s Next?
Vitality go directly into the semi-finals of BLAST Open London 2025, where they will face the winner of MOUZ vs. M80. For the team, this is not only a chance to reach the final, but also to rediscover the sense of strength with which they began 2024.
mezii is clear about the ultimate goal: “We want to lift a trophy again. And there’s no better place to do it than at home.”
The decisive test lies ahead: can Vitality return to their DNA of team play, or will they remain in the role of a stable semi-finalist without golden medals?
