Vitality move past Spirit in StarLadder Budapest Major semifinals

Vitality will get a chance to defend their major crown at the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025. After an incredibly close first map loss, that left donk frustrated, Spirit fell flat on Dust2 handing over the semifinals win to Vitality. Can Vitality become the first team to win back to back majors since the legendary Astralis?

Team Rosters – Vitality vs. Spirit

Team Vitality	Team Spirit
Dan “apEX” Madesclaire	Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut	Danil “donk” Kryshkovets
Shahar “flameZ” Shushan	Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov
William “mezii” Merriman	Ivan “zweih” Gogin
Robin “ropz” Kool	Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich
Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam (C)	Sergey “hally” Shavayev (C)

Map Veto

1. Vitality removed Ancient
2. Spirit removed Inferno
3. Vitality picked Mirage
4. Spirit picked Dust2
5. Spirit removed Nuke
6. Vitality removed Train
7. Overpass was left over

donk’s dissapointment was apparent. Image via StarLadder

Match Recap – Vitality vs. Spirit – StarLadder Budapest Major 2025

Mirage – Vitality pull out a miraculous comeback – 19-17

Donk was the name on everyone’s lips going into the match, and the youngster immediately justified the hype with a clean USP-S triple kill to start Mirage. An early AWP for sh1ro helped Spirit convert the pistol into a 3-0 lead, before tn1r stepped up to add two more rounds and shut down any early response from Vitality. Mezii emerged as Vitality’s main bright spot, finding a cracking headshot from B apartments in round six and continuing to be their most reliable rifler. Even so, Spirit’s control left Vitality with just four rounds at the half, while mezii posted 11 key kills.