Team Vitality Confirms The Signing Of Magisk, Dupreeh, and Zonic

Team Vitality rounded up its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster on Wednesday, January 5, with the signing of three former Astralis members. With that, the French esports organization formed a new international roster for the 2022 season.

The French CS:GO esports team, Vitality, announced the signing of Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and Emil “Magisk” Reif as the newest members of its lineup. Joining the Danish duo is former Astralis head coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen, who will take over for Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam.

Magisk and dupreeh will team up with a French trio in Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier, and the two-time best CS:GO player in the world, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut. With that, Vitality formed a new European CS:GO superteam, featuring some of the biggest names in the scene.

The roster overhaul follows Vitality’s underwhelming showings in 2021, in which Vitality failed to deliver at the highest level.

As one of the top teams in the European region, Vitality struggled to deliver for most of the year. While their most notable accomplishment across until September was a bronze medal from BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020 in January.

However, things started looking up for Vitality in the latter months of the year. In September, the French team placed second in ESL Pro League Season 14 and third in the Intel Extreme Masters XVI – Fall: Europe in October.

Unfortunately, when it came to Big tournaments, Vitality consistently fell short. Most notably, Vitality could only manage a top-eight finish the PGL Major Stockholm.

And although they managed another finals appearance in November at the BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2021, Vitality’s only title of the year came at the Intel Extreme Masters XVI – Winter.

Having won only one tournament trophy, Team Vitality felt like changes were needed, which came in the form of replacing two players and the head coach. Now, for the first time in history, Vitality will feature two non-French CS:GO esports pro players on its roster.

By signing the Astralis trio, Vitality got their hands on some of the most accomplished CS:GO esports players in history.

The trio were a part of the most dominant CS:GO team of all time, having won numerous trophies, including three back-to-back Major titles in 2018-2019. However, despite their past success, Astralis team struggled to deliver in 2021.

This led to roster changes, forcing Magisk, dupreeh, and zonic out of action ahead of the PGL Major Stockholm. At the time, the trio confirmed they would not stick with Astralis for the 2022 season, while reports started to pop up hinting they would join Team Vitality.

However, the deal that was all but confirmed for the past month couldn’t come through 2022. That is because dupreeh, Magisk, and zonic were all still under contract with the Danish esports organization.

“Since the beginning of our entrance into CS:GO, we have been working with intensity to get to the top and nurture some of the best talent France has to offer,” said Vitality co-founder Fabien “Neo” David.

“It’s now time to think internationally and create a new CS:GO culture of European talent with legacy athletes. As proven winners, dupreeh, Magisk, and zonic have what it takes to move us from not just being a strong contender, but the best CS:GO team in the world.”

As revealed, the deal was made available thanks to €50 million ($56.5 million) investment from an esports venture fund, Rewired.GG. With the money, Vitality also rebuilt its League of Legends roster, forming another superteam in a different esports title.

Most notably, Vitality acquired Luka “Perkz” Perković, Barney “Alphari” Morris, and two-time back-to-back LEC champion, Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság.