Vitality beats 100 Thieves 3-1 to set up Champions Shanghai grand final rematch

Team Vitality beat 100 Thieves 3-1 in the lower final at Champions Shanghai on Oct. 17, eliminating the North American side and booking a grand final rematch with LOUD. It was the first time the teams met in a VCT event, and Vitality recovered from a rough start to win the next three maps and stay in the title race.

The series was played on Split, Summit, Lotus and Ascent. 100 Thieves won the opener 13-5, but Vitality answered on the next three maps to close out the match and reach the final against LOUD on Oct. 18. The result set up the third meeting between the two teams in the final match of the 2026 season.

100 Thieves build an early edge on Split

Split was the clearest map win for 100 Thieves. The score sat at 4-4 before the Thieves pulled away with stable holds and proactive pushes through A Sewer to move ahead 8-4. Timotino stood out on the map, helping 100 Thieves seize control before halftime pressure became a problem for Vitality.

On the attacking side, 100 Thieves did not let the map slip. They converted the bonus and won every remaining round except one, finishing the map 13-5. Timotino ended with a server-high 22/10/6 KDA and 331 ACS, which gave 100 Thieves the clean start they needed after entering the series as underdogs in the rematch picture.

Vitality had trouble matching the pace of the first map, but Split also showed how quickly the series could swing once the map pool moved away from it. The rest of the evening belonged to Vitality, who tightened up in the mid-rounds and forced 100 Thieves into longer, less comfortable attacks on the next three maps.

Summit swings on key clutches

Summit was the next map and brought a much closer fight. Vitality ran a faster Neon-Phoenix composition, while 100 Thieves leaned into a more contact-heavy Sage-Chamber setup. Both sides traded rounds evenly in the first half, with Vitality mixing patient retakes and proactive Mid reclears to answer the site hits from 100 Thieves.

The first big turning point came in round 10 and round 11. Cryocells opened the sequence with a 1v3, but Sayonara answered with a 1v2 in the next round to help Vitality take a 7-5 lead into halftime. That small edge mattered once Vitality switched sides, because the team never let 100 Thieves turn the map into a full brawl.

Vitality dropped the pistol, but the response was immediate. They won four straight rounds to move in front 11-7, pushed the score to 12-8, and then finished the map 13-10 after 100 Thieves could only trim the margin late. Chronicle led Vitality with 21 kills on Neon, while Sayonara added 20 kills and posted a 1.52 rating. The rookie also gave Vitality some of its cleanest spacing and mid-round stability on the map.

Summit was the map that changed the tone of the series. Instead of chasing the score, Vitality dictated the pace after halftime and forced 100 Thieves to work around stronger site holds and quicker retakes. Once that happened, the North American side had fewer clean entries and less room to recover from lost rounds.

Lotus turns into the tightest map

Lotus ended up as the closest map in the series. Vitality opened a 7-3 lead on defense by finding early picks that funneled the remaining 100 Thieves players into the B site, where Vitality could retake with an advantage. A pistol win followed by a bonus round stretched the lead to 11-5 and put Vitality within reach of a 2-1 series lead.

100 Thieves still had a strong response left. They strung together six straight rounds, and several of those rounds featured confident fights around A Rubble as they climbed all the way back to 11-11. Vitality then used a timeout to slow the pace and reset the round structure, and that pause helped them close the map with two patient, grouped C-site hits for a 13-11 win.

Sayonara remained in top form on Lotus after flexing over to Chamber. He finished the map with 24 kills and continued to be one of the most reliable pieces on the Vitality side throughout the evening. Lotus was also the only map where 100 Thieves came close to forcing a full momentum reversal, but they could not get over the line once Vitality adjusted to the late-round pressure.

Vitality’s discipline in the last two rounds mattered because 100 Thieves had already shown they could recover from a big deficit. The difference was that Vitality did not panic when the score tightened. They kept the final two rounds grouped and controlled, which denied 100 Thieves the openings they needed to force a deciding fifth map.

Jamppi and PROFEK close out Ascent

Ascent gave 100 Thieves one more chance to extend the series, and they did have moments that could have shifted the map. Vitality switched to a Sage-Chamber composition, while 100 Thieves ran Jett-Phoenix, effectively reversing the setup they used on Summit. Jamppi’s Sage became a key part of Vitality’s plan, especially through wall placements that created new angles and helped the team stabilize on low-buy rounds.

One of the most important plays came in round six, when Jamppi’s wall helped Vitality win a pivotal low buy. Later, Jamppi boosted PROFEK to secure a crucial opening pick, keeping the attack from 100 Thieves from snowballing. Those rounds mattered because 100 Thieves were still finding ways to stay in the game, including a Timotino thrifty 4K in round seven and both pistol-round wins on the map.

Even with those moments, 100 Thieves could not fully cash in on their early lead. They were ahead 8-6, but Vitality started to control the buy rounds with heavy Mid pressure. The decisive stretch came in round 18, when Jamppi used a wall with an unseen gap to lurk through Mid and push Vitality in front 11-8. From there, the map ended 13-9 and the series was sealed.

The Ascent finish also showed how much the map control battle had shifted. 100 Thieves had the first lead, but Vitality kept finding ways to pressure Mid, isolate defenders and convert the key mid-round duels that decided the final stretch. Once Jamppi’s lurk opened the gap, 100 Thieves did not have enough rounds left to recover.

Sayonara finished the series with 70 kills, the highest total on the team, while Chronicle reached his third career Champions grand final with three different organizations. Vitality now move on to face LOUD in the championship match on Oct. 18, while 100 Thieves exit after a 3-1 loss in their first-ever VCT meeting with the European roster. LOUD reached the final earlier in the event after beating NRG 2-1 to secure a top-three finish, and Vitality had already booked this lower-final spot by beating G2 2-0 in the upper bracket. Vitality beat G2 2-0 at Champions Shanghai to reach the upper final