onic on stunning Vitality: “Today we were mentally much, much stronger”

Inner Circle’s opening match at BLASTupposed to be a difficult introduction to tier-one Counter-Strike. Instead, Viktor “onic” Babii and his team walked away with one of the biggest victories in the organization’s history.

The Ukrainian side swept Vitality 2-0 in the Group B opener, winning Anubis 13-8 before recovering from a 7-12 deficit on Cache and closing the map 16-13 in overtime. For onic, the difference was not a complicated tactical breakthrough but Inner Circle’s ability to stay composed when the series looked ready to slip away.

Vitality were not at full strength. Justinas “jL” Lekavicius was making his debut as a stand-in for William “mezii” Merriman, who is missing BLAST Open Porto while on paternity leave. Even with that caveat, beating a lineup featuring Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, Robin “ropz” Kool, Shahar “flameZ” Shushan and Dan “apEX” Madesclaire on LAN represents a major step for an Inner Circle roster still trying to establish itself against elite opposition.

Quick Context

Detail	Information
Player	Viktor “onic” Babii
Team	Inner Circle
Role	In-game leader
Event	BLAST Open Porto 2026
Match	Vitality vs Inner Circle
Result	Inner Circle won 2-0
Maps	Anubis 13-8, Cache 16-13
Next opponent	MOUZ
Next match	August 29, Group B upper-bracket semi-final
Main storyline	Inner Circle are one win away from the playoffs

Inner Circle are currently No. 34 in the HLTV team ranking, but their victory over Vitality has pushed them much higher in the live Valve Regional Standings picture. Ahead of the MOUZ match, HLTV’s VRS forecast lists them at No. 18.

Why the Vitality win matters

Inner Circle arrived in Copenhagen with momentum, but not with the résumé of the teams they are now facing.

Their summer included a title at Digital Crusade Super DraculaN Season 1, where they recovered from an early group-stage defeat to Sharks and eventually beat Acend 3-1 in the grand final. That run was the first HLTV-covered tournament victory for the Ukrainian core and followed the addition of former NIP AWPer Daniil “headtr1ck” Valitov.

They then put together another useful run in the RES Showdown 4 Europe qualifier, beating GenOne, magic and Virtus.pro without dropping a series, although they later fell short of reaching the Esports World Cup through the open qualifier.

Vitality therefore represented a different test: not simply another match in Inner Circle’s climb through the rankings, but an opportunity to see whether their recent form could survive against a genuine tier-one opponent.

It did.

onic credits Inner Circle’s mentality

onic did not try to portray Inner Circle as the stronger team on paper. His reaction focused instead on how his players approached the match and their refusal to treat Vitality’s reputation as a reason to play cautiously.

The 21-year-old IGL acknowledged the obvious gap in experience between the teams, but felt Inner Circle handled the pressure better on the day. That mindset became particularly important once the second map appeared to be heading toward a decider.

There was also little attempt to hide the emotion of the result. For a roster entering its first event of this scale together, beating Vitality immediately changed what BLAST Open Porto could become.

The accidental call that helped spark the Cache comeback

Cache produced the defining sequence of the series.

After a 6-6 first half, Vitality moved ahead on the CT side and reached a 12-7 lead. Inner Circle were one round away from being sent to Dust2, but the Ukrainian team won five consecutive rounds to force overtime before completing the comeback.

The turnaround included an unusual moment from onic.

Inner Circle had already exhausted their tactical pauses, something the IGL temporarily forgot while attempting to call another timeout. With the freeze time ending and no pause available, onic instead called a fast round. Vitality were not prepared for the sudden tempo, Inner Circle converted the opportunity, and the round helped change the atmosphere inside the team.

From there, onic said the players increasingly believed another comeback was possible. That confidence was not entirely new: Inner Circle had already survived several close series during their Super DraculaN title run, including overtime victories over 9INE and Sashi.

Cache was simply the biggest stage yet on which they had managed to reproduce it.

cptkurtka023 and headtr1ck punish Vitality

The upset was not built on mentality alone.

Arseniy “cptkurtka023” Derevinskiy produced the best individual performance of the series, finishing with 43 kills and a 1.58 Rating 3.0 across the two maps. headtr1ck followed with a 1.37 rating and a 42-24 K-D record.

Vitality, meanwhile, never received the usual level of impact from ZywOo. The French star finished the series on a 0.78 rating after beginning Anubis 0-7, with HLTV recording it as his second-lowest-rated CS2 series at the time. jL also had a difficult first official with the lineup, ending at 0.88.

Inner Circle deserve more credit than simply benefiting from an off day, however. They controlled long stretches of Anubis and, when Vitality finally established what looked like a decisive advantage on Cache, refused to give them the final round required to close the map.

A young IGL trying to keep expectations under control

The victory naturally raises expectations around Inner Circle, but onic’s message after the match was largely about avoiding exactly that.

He described BLAST Open Porto as an opportunity for a young roster to experience Counter-Strike against established tier-one opposition. Rather than changing the team’s approach after one upset, he wants his players to continue treating every match as experience they can use later.

There is also a more concrete reward at stake.

Inner Circle’s performances directly affect their Valve Regional Standing and therefore their route toward future top events and the Major cycle. The Vitality victory has already strengthened that position considerably, and another upset would move them even further up the live ranking.

onic is not hiding his longer-term ambition either. He believes the current five still have room to develop their understanding and discipline and said “with this roster we can be top 10 easy.”

It is a bold target, but recent results have at least given Inner Circle a platform from which to pursue it.

MOUZ confirmed as Inner Circle’s next opponent

At the time of onic’s interview, Inner Circle were waiting for the winner of MOUZ versus 9z.

That opponent is now confirmed.

MOUZ beat 9z 2-0 later on Thursday, dominating Cache 13-4 before taking Nuke 13-7. Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás led the series with 36 kills, while Lotan “Spinx” Giladi and Adrian “xelex” Vincze also posted strong numbers.

Inner Circle will face MOUZ on August 29 in the Group B upper-bracket semi-final. The stakes are straightforward: the winner qualifies for the BLAST Open Porto playoffs, while the loser remains alive but drops into the lower side of the group bracket.

There is no meaningful head-to-head history to draw from. HLTV lists no previous meetings between the current Inner Circle and MOUZ teams, making current form and the veto considerably more useful indicators than historical results.

The matchup also presents an interesting map-pool contrast. Inner Circle have been particularly productive on Dust2 and Nuke over the past three months, while Ancient has been a significant statistical weakness. MOUZ arrive with strong recent numbers of their own on Nuke, Dust2 and Inferno.

Interesting Facts

• Inner Circle qualified for BLAST Open Porto through the regional qualification route rather than receiving one of the 12 direct VRS invitations.
• Their Super DraculaN title in June was the Ukrainian core’s first tournament victory at an event covered by HLTV.
• cptkurtka023 recorded a 1.58 rating against Vitality, the highest in the series.
• Inner Circle came back from 7-12 on Vitality’s Cache pick before winning 16-13 in overtime.
• Their next opponent, MOUZ, opened the tournament by beating 9z 13-4 on Cache and 13-7 on Nuke.
• Inner Circle and MOUZ have no previous recorded head-to-head meeting on HLTV.

What Comes Next?

Inner Circle are now one best-of-three away from securing a place in Porto.

Beating MOUZ would be another level of validation. Unlike Vitality, who entered the opener with jL replacing mezii, MOUZ will face Inner Circle with their regular five and arrive after a comfortable opening victory of their own. HLTV currently lists MOUZ at No. 5 in its team ranking compared with Inner Circle at No. 34.

The challenge for onic is therefore close to the one he described after beating Vitality: keep the underdog freedom that made Inner Circle dangerous without allowing one major upset to change how the team approaches the tournament.

They no longer need to prove that they can take a map from elite opposition. Against MOUZ, they have the chance to show that the Vitality result can become part of a run rather than an isolated breakthrough.

FAQ

Who is onic?

Viktor “onic” Babii is the 21-year-old in-game leader of Ukrainian CS2 team Inner Circle.

What happened in Vitality vs Inner Circle?

Inner Circle defeated Vitality 2-0 at BLAST Open Porto 2026, winning Anubis 13-8 and Cache 16-13 after overtime.

Why was jL playing for Vitality?

jL is standing in for mezii at BLAST Open Porto while the British player is on paternity leave.

Who do Inner Circle play next?

Inner Circle will face MOUZ on August 29 in the Group B upper-bracket semi-final. The winner advances to the playoffs.

Have Inner Circle and MOUZ played before?

No previous head-to-head series between the two teams is listed by HLTV ahead of their BLAST Open Porto meeting.