Consecutive paternity leaves means Vitality will take on the Lithuanian for reportedly two events.
Justinas ‘jL’ Lekavicius will begin his third stand-in stint of the year, this time for the titanic Vitality, which has been showing signs of slowly falling from their throne.
Daniel ‘apEX’ Madesclaire and William ‘mezii’ Merriman will both be taking paternity leave, missing BLAST Open Porto and PGL Masters Bucharest, respectively.
This will be jL’s third stint as a substitute since his benching from Natus Vincere at the start of 2025, the previous ones having been on Liquid and MOUZ this year.
Vitality’s shaky stay at the top
Vitality had a record-shattering first half of 2026, winning the first five tournaments they attended. They failed to win the last two events, including the IEM Cologne Major 2026, souring the mood.
They made the choice to take a team-wide break before IEM Atlanta 2026, which they lost, heading into the Major. They fell in the round of eight there against the eventual winners at Cologne.
Vitality now will not field their starting roster in at least two events, irreversibly changing the outlook of the season for them, as they also drop down the HLTV and VRS rankings.
