On the latest episode of HLTV Confirmed Vitality’s captain Dan “apEX” Madesclaire talked about the comparisons the team has felt with Astralis. After winning 9 trophies in 2025 and securing both Majors there’s no doubt that the discussion greatest team of all time has been reopened.
An honest apEX
The frenchman, who is known to be very candid, gave his thoughts on how the two teams compare and what the difference between them actually is.
“I think our year was better than theirs, but they were still a better team overall, because they did it for two years. For now, what I’m saying is that they’re above us. That’s for sure. And we don’t have a problem saying it.”
While Vitality’s 2025 was great the French in-game leader doesn’t think his team compares to Astralis, yet. The veteran who has attended 21 Majors and won 4, wants 2026 to be another crazy year for Vitality, who goes into season with no roster changes and full of confidence.
“Our goal is to be up there as well, like to do a second crazy year, going for back to back to back majors, maybe a second grand slam. Something that has never been done.”
Even apEX who is known for his self-belief doesn’t think it makes sense to aim for Astralis, when you start as a team. But coming off the back of 2025 that could change for the international team.
“Let’s be honest, when you start the team, you never go for with a performance coach and say, “Okay, let’s try to match Astralis.” It comes by itself.
Outstanding start to 2025
When the event wins come rolling in, like they did for Vitality at the start of 2025 the thoughts do start to form. 7 tournament wins in a row, ending with the Major before the player break and suddenly you can aim for the stars.
“You win one event, two events, three events, and then you’re like, okay, it’s getting close, but it’s still quite hard. You win a major, seven trophies, you’re like, okay, that season was pretty good. And then you aim for that.”
And even the thought of matching Astralis, for someone like apEX, could screw with the team seeing as he played against them and knows how dominant they were. That’s part of the reason why Vitality’s 2nd half of 2025 wasn’t as dominant – they were trying too hard to match Astralis instead of focusing on each tournament.
“We did worse in the second part of the season, thinking too much about those things. While in the first part of the season, we were not thinking about winning seven events in a row.”
Whether Astralis or Vitality is the best team of all time is right now up to Vitality, as Astralis’ era has ended with none of the original members of the dominant team left after Magisk and device left this December.
