A day has dawned that no one ever thought would come, something that doesn’t feel real to write on paper, UK CS has won a Major trophy.
William “mezii” Merriman has won the BLAST.tv Austin Major, after defeating The MongolZ in a highly entertaining series that peaked at over 1.7 million concurrent viewers – the fourth highest in Counter-Strike history.
Vitality has been on top of the world in 2025. After losing their first LAN game of the year against Eternal Fire at BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 1 Finals, Vitality went on to win 30 series in a row over the course of 139 days of complete domination. Vitality during this period picked up wins at IEM Katowice, ESL Pro League Season 21, BLAST Open Lisbon, IEM Melbourne, BLAST Rivals Season 1, and IEM Dallas. On top of that, they won the fifth season of the ESL Grand Slam.
UK CS HAS LIFTED A F*CKING MAJOR TROPHY 🇬🇧🇬🇧@kingmezii 👑 pic.twitter.com/QFtBkfqWZT
— 🇬🇧 UKCSGO (@ukcsgo) June 22, 2025
This was their Grand Finals to lose as the undoubted favourite to win against The MongolZ.
Unfortunately for the French organisation, the boat got rocked straight out of the gates. Map one of Mirage shocked not only Vitality but everyone viewing from home. The watchparties in Ulaanbaatar were going crazy as an uncontested map one went in favour of the Mongolian squad 13-5.
While Vitality looked timid and scared, Usukhbayar “910” Banzragch and Azbayar “Senzu” Munkhbold were playing with the confidence of a nation behind them. In sharp contrast, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut didn’t step up to the plate with a 0.80 HLTV rating. This was on the back of him entering the Grand Finals with a 1.49 HLTV rating, matching Danil “donk” Kryshkovets record performance at the Perfect World Shanghai Major.
Heading onto Dust 2, Vitality’s map pick, it was a different story. mezii gave The MongolZ a taste of their own medicine as he stood up to be the star player, boasting an impressive 1.91 HLTV rating. Even overshadowing ZywOo and Robin “ropz” Kool.
🇬🇧THE MAJOR HAS COME HOME 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/bz69Rmj1pP
— 🇬🇧 UKCSGO (@ukcsgo) June 22, 2025
Inferno set as the decider was a scary option for Vitality. Despite having won 18 games out of 19 on Inferno leading up to the event, Vitality had lost both times they played on Inferno during the BLAST.tv Austin Major.
Regardless, Vitality came out of the gates swinging, closing out the first half 9-3. Importantly, mezii was 13-8 at the half, the second-highest rated player on Vitality. And unfortunately for The MongolZ, superstar 910 only got his first kills in an unsuccessful round 11.
With the writing on the wall, Vitality would close out Inferno while mezii continued his strong performance at the top of the scoreboard with the most kills and a 1.63 HLTV rating. Overall, in the final, mezii had a 1.32 HLTV rating, only second to Dan ‘apEX‘ Madesclaire.
The majority of the Counter-Strike world has been talking about “Is this the Vitality era?” Hell, the desk before the Major final spoke about the definition of an era in Counter-Strike for almost 30 minutes.
What is undeniable is that this is one of the best teams of all time in CS, and what they have achieved in 2025 so far may never be matched. Seven Tier-1 events won in a row, winning 30 matches on the trot throughout, and a Major trophy to sit in the middle of their cabinet as the crown jewel.
There should also be a celebration for Shahar ‘flameZ‘ Shushan, a fellow Endpoint graduate who joins mezii in lifting the BLAST.tv Austin Major.
From the halls of Kettering, mezii now stands as the first ever player to lift a trophy in UK CS history. An inspirational feat which will put mezii on a pedestal as a role model for the whole of UK CS for many years to come. An unbelievable, historic feat for our region that continuously gets undermined on the international Counter-Strike stage.
However, mezii still hasn’t won an EPIC.LAN!
“It’s the hope that kills you”, but for now, UK CS can stand on top of the Counter-Strike.
mezii playing at the Grosvenor Season 2 Finals in 2019 – Credit: jakhowardphoto
