The best team in the world is back in action in the opening match of IEM Cologne Stage 2. Vitality will face off against Astralis, and we will have to see if Vitality is still the same top team it was before the break. These two teams met at BLAST Open Lisbon 2025, and Vitality won with a score of 2-0. We will see if Astralis can turn it around this time.
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Contents
Last Heads-up Match Result and Players Statistics
Current Team and Players Form
Vitality
Vitality is back in the game after the summer break and after winning BLAST.TV Austin Major. The only thing we can judge them by is their form throughout this year, which was the form of the best team in the world, leaving no chance for their opponents as they won seven tournaments in a row. Even if they’re not at their best after the break, ‘ZywOo’ is known for being a consistent star player, and the same could be said about another Vitality star, ‘ropz’.
Astralis
They had a good form at FISSURE Playground 1 and reached the Grand Final, losing it to TYLOO with a score of 1-3. Here they seem to be in the same shape, on their way they lost to FURIA but won against paiN and B8 to make it to Stage 2. ‘device’, ‘Jabbi’, and ‘stavn’ seem to be their key players to drop a huge amount of frags and carry their team to the victory.
apEX is hungry to be back in the game
Match Prediction
Vitality was a long time ahead of Astralis, and it doesn’t seem like Astralis is ready to change that at this point. The individual skill, experience, and recent results tell us that Vitality is a clear favorite to win this match. We expect Vitality to win this match.
Can Astralis make a miracle and take down Vitality, or will it be Vitality to prove that they’re back in the game at their best and ready to take another trophy home? We will have to see it this Saturday at 16:00 CET!
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