VIT Sayonara on beating Global Esports: "Props to them for creating such an annoying playstyle to play against"

Team Vitality opened their VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Champions Shanghai campaign with a 2-1 victory over reigning Pacific champions Global Esports in the opening match of Group B. After a disappointing exit from VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - EMEA Stage 2, the result offered a first sign that Vitality's reset before Shanghai might have worked.

After the match, THESPIKE sat down with Ștefan "Sayonara" Mîtcu to talk about how Vitality rebuilt after Stage 2, the challenge of facing Global Esports, his growth as a player this season, and the roster shake-up brewing across EMEA ahead of 2027.

"Taking a break, resetting, and coming back fresh"

THESPIKE: Congratulations on your first win at Champs! Talk me through the prep since Stage 2 in EMEA didn't go the way you wanted. How have you gone about fixing things?

Sayonara: "The most important thing was taking a break, resetting, and coming back fresh to the server with new ideas. That was our goal. For our prep, we mostly focused on ourselves. Benjamin "Scuttt" Hutchinson put together material so we could understand how they play, what they do and their tells on each map. But there was no hard anti-strat, because they like to switch between a lot of strats. I wouldn't say they're a random team, but it's very hard to get a hard read on them. It's not that hard to understand what their plan is, though, so we mostly focused on ourselves going into this game."

THESPIKE: One thing Global Esports do really well is execute with their utility and ultimates. Was that something you noticed in this game?

Sayonara: "Yeah, but I think their biggest strength is that they're not scared to rerun strats during the game. They also have their own unique way of playing, which isn't very orthodox, but they make it work. It's very hard to play against. So props to them for creating such an annoying playstyle to play against."

VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Champions Shanghai

Global Esports

1

X

2

Team Vitality

Group B - Opening Match, Best of 3 - September 26, 2026 - 9:00AM

10

Abyss

13

13

Ascent

9

11

Summit

13

Global Esports

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

xavi8k

1.14

200

54/49/26

+5

1.10

62.3%

126.2

28%

45%

5

6

PatMen

1.10

205

49/52/28

-3

0.94

80.1%

137.4

36%

50%

4

4

UdoTan

1.02

227

53/58/13

-5

0.91

65.3%

142.2

33%

56%

15

12

Kr1stal

1.00

196

44/52/28

-8

0.85

68.1%

143.3

22%

60%

3

2

autumn

0.80

173

43/52/10

-9

0.83

69.8%

108.3

27%

44%

8

10

Team Vitality

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Jamppi

1.23

245

60/48/17

+12

1.25

72.5%

151.0

33%

70%

7

3

PROFEK

1.14

209

50/46/29

+4

1.09

76.5%

138.3

31%

43%

3

4

Chronicle

1.04

233

53/51/19

+2

1.04

65.1%

153.9

29%

35%

6

11

Derke

1.03

226

56/53/7

+3

1.06

69.3%

143.8

34%

56%

15

12

Sayonara

0.85

168

43/45/12

-2

0.96

72.1%

109.8

29%

38%

3

5

THESPIKE: We're seeing more teams develop unique playstyles, like Karmine Corp. They also look very unorthodox.

Sayonara: "I would say KC are very different from GE, because they don't do very complex utility combos or unique playstyles. They mostly focus on playing for themselves. They understand map spaces and they play off whatever they get. They're not afraid to play with the hand they're dealt, and that's why they're so good."

What Sayonara learned the most in Tier 1

THESPIKE: Bringing fresh ideas seemed to include a lot of agent swaps, like Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov on Neon. But you stayed on Sova throughout, which is the agent you've played the most. How have you found your different roles throughout this year?

Sayonara: "I've always been an Initiator player. That's what I've always liked. At the start of the year, I flexed onto Duelist and quickly found out that I'm not the biggest fan of it. That's why we have Elias "Jamppi" Olkkonen playing it now. So now I get to play my stuff and help the team in the best way I can on Initiators. That was the biggest thing."

THESPIKE: Outside of your role, how do you think you've grown as a player in general over the course of the year?

Sayonara: "Obviously I've gotten some good international experience, but mostly it's been about how well I can help my team. That's what I learned the most, because it's very individualistic. I have to understand who I have on the team and how to help them. Everybody has their own way of doing things, and that was the biggest thing to learn."

Carrying London experience into Shanghai

Masters London was Vitality's first international outing of the year, and it was a strong one, with the team finishing in the top four at the Copper Box Arena.

THESPIKE: Lastly, you mentioned international exposure, and VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Masters London 2026 was your first Tier 1 international event. What did you learn there that you've tried to carry into Champions to finish the year strong?

Sayonara: "Nothing in particular. It was mostly just understanding how it feels to play against international teams, and how an international LAN feels, because it's very different from regional play. Nothing that specific, just experience with new things."

"Fnatic are going in a very unique direction"

THESPIKE: You've been grinding in EMEA from a very young age. Tier 2 teams made a lot of noise in Stage 2 and shook up the Tier 1 system. Without asking you to leak anything, there are rumours of young Tier 2 players moving into the big organisations. What's your take on the shake-up in EMEA going into next year?

Sayonara: "I do think it's a bit annoying that other teams get to start their off-season way earlier than us because they didn't qualify for Champs. That's a bit frustrating. But talking about the roster moves, I think Fnatic are going in a very unique direction. They're completely moving away from everything they did in the past. I also think Gentle Mates are trying to shake up how they approach things. This year they tried to build a long-term project with young players, but now they're taking a different approach. Let's see what happens."

With Global Esports dispatched, Vitality will now face LOUD on September 30 for a spot in playoffs. For more interviews and coverage from VALORANT Champions Shanghai 2026, stay tuned to THESPIKE.GG.