mezii: “That winning mentality and the way of winning trophies doesn’t just disappear”

William “mezii” Merriman returned to Vitality at StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026 with more than sentiment behind his comeback. After missing BLAST Open Porto following the birth of his second child, the British rifler immediately helped his team reach the upper-bracket final in Barcelona.

Vitality swept FURIA 2-0 in mezii’s second series back, recovering from a slow start on Mirage to win 13-8 before closing Dust2 13-5. The 27-year-old finished second on his team with a 1.45 rating, 27-22 K-D, 80.8 ADR and an 84.6% KAST, trailing only Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut’s 1.63. He was especially influential on Mirage, where he produced a 1.93 rating and helped turn a 1-5 deficit into a controlled victory. 

The performance made his return feel seamless, even if mezii admitted that his preparation had been anything but conventional.

“It’s like all your friends are at a party”

Watching Vitality compete without him was an unfamiliar experience for mezii. He remained connected to the team from home, but family life — including caring for his nearly two-year-old while adjusting to becoming a father for the second time — offered a very different perspective on the tournament circuit.

“It’s never fun watching from home,” mezii told HLTV. “I definitely had a different viewing experience to probably most people. Got my two-year-old, almost two-year-old running around screaming with toys whilst I’m trying to watch the boys play.”

His return was complicated further by illness and limited time to rediscover his rhythm, but the emotional lift of rejoining the lineup outweighed those problems.

“I think it’s just fun being back with the boys,” he said. “It’s so weird when you’re not there; it’s like all your friends are at a party, and you’re not invited to this party. So it’s just good. It feels good to be back on the server.”

There was little evidence of rust against FURIA. Beyond his overall numbers, mezii played a direct part in two decisive moments: he intercepted Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo carrying the bomb toward B during Vitality’s Mirage recovery and later closed Dust2 with a 1v2 clutch. 

A sharp response to Vitality’s uneven fall

The FURIA win carried more weight because Vitality entered StarSeries looking for stability rather than merely another title. Their fall campaign had been disrupted by absences, and mezii’s paternity leave forced the team to use Justinas “jL” Lekavicius at BLAST Open Porto.

Vitality still reached the semifinals with the stand-in, an outcome mezii regarded positively, but the changes have made it difficult for the team to reproduce the rhythm of its dominant opening half of 2026.

“It’s definitely a season that’s probably not going to happen too many times,” mezii said. “It’s a bit chaotic, it’s a bit of a mess, but from the start of the season we knew exactly what the plan was going to be.”

Further disruption is already scheduled. Dan “apEX” Madesclaire is expected to miss PGL Masters Bucharest on paternity leave, leaving Vitality with another tournament outside their regular five-man structure. That places additional importance on events such as StarSeries, where the full lineup of apEX, mezii, ZywOo, Robin “ropz” Kool and Shahar “flameZ” Shushan is available.

For mezii, those opportunities matter both competitively and in the Valve Regional Standings.

“The stand-in events are, of course, going to be tough with jL, but I think the boys did really, really good reaching the semi-finals,” he said. “It’s important that these events where we are the full five, the full team — first off, we want to get back to winning trophies.”

One dominant series did not solve every problem

The victory over FURIA appeared to support mezii’s belief that Vitality could quickly return to their previous level. They won both maps after competitive opening halves, conceding only three CT-side rounds across Mirage and Dust2, while ZywOo and mezii combined for a 66-47 K-D.

The following upper-bracket final against Aurora, however, exposed the inconsistency that has defined Vitality’s fall season.

Vitality lost the series 2-1, falling 7-13 on Anubis and 8-13 on Nuke around a 13-11 Inferno victory. Their attack produced only six rounds across the entire series: none on Anubis, four on Inferno and two on Nuke. After posting a 1.45 rating against FURIA, mezii dropped to a 0.82 against Aurora with a 34-41 K-D, 52.5 ADR and 66.2% KAST. Only ZywOo finished the defeat with a positive rating. 

That contrast — a clean sweep of the world’s fourth-ranked team followed by an attack that repeatedly stalled — reinforces mezii’s assessment that Vitality are still searching for their established level. His own two performances also illustrate the difficulty of returning mid-season: decisive against FURIA, then far less influential when Aurora disrupted Vitality’s spacing and trading.

Across the previous three months, mezii had recorded a 1.01 rating over 20 maps before StarSeries. His FURIA series was therefore not simply solid role-player output; it was a significant jump above his recent baseline. 

“We can still win trophies”

Vitality’s recent dip has inevitably created questions about whether the roster can recover the consistency that made it one of the year’s defining teams. mezii said those doubts are coming from outside the squad rather than within it.

“I don’t think we’re doubting ourselves as a team,” he said. “I think maybe some people out on the socials are probably doubting us, like, ‘Oh, we’re not sure if they can still win again,’ or whatever it is.”

His answer was built around experience rather than immediate form.

“That winning mentality and the way of winning trophies doesn’t just disappear over a few events,” mezii said. “It’s still there in our DNA, so we know exactly what we need to do.

“We just need to get that one win, and hopefully it’ll be here.”

He also resisted treating future trophies as inevitable, despite describing Vitality’s current five — together with Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam’s coaching staff — as one of Counter-Strike’s greatest lineups.

“Even though we’ve had so much success, you never know when the next win’s going to be,” he said. “As this five, we want to win as much as we can.”

Singapore remains the season’s central target

StarSeries represents an opportunity to restore momentum, but Vitality’s longer-term planning is centred on the Singapore Major. Their previous Major campaign at IEM Cologne 2026 ended in disappointment against Falcons, who went on to win the tournament.

“We were so close to being able to beat Falcons,” mezii said. “It’s always annoying to lose to the team that wins the event as well, because you always feel like if we’d just got over that hurdle, maybe we could’ve kept the momentum.”

That defeat has shaped Vitality’s priorities for the remainder of the season.

“The main goal has always been the Major,” he added. “We want to make sure we get to the Major fully ready, and if we’ve got trophies before it, great. If not, then we just know our eyes are fully set on Singapore.”

Before Vitality can think about another meeting with Aurora, they must survive the StarSeries consolidation final against the winner of MIBR and FURIA. The task is demanding: a best-of-three victory would send them directly into a best-of-five grand-final rematch on the same day.

For mezii and Vitality, that gauntlet offers an immediate test of his central argument. Their championship habits may still be intact, but after the attacking breakdown against Aurora, they now have to demonstrate them under pressure.