Justinas "jL" Lekavicius to Stand-In for Vitality

Vitality is preparing for two significant events without their complete roster, engaging Justinas "jL" Lekavicius as a temporary addition. Sebastien "KRL" Perez confirmed this news via a post on X.

jL will fill in for William "mezii" Merriman during the BLAST Open Porto at the end of August and will take on his second role replacing Dan "apEX" Madesclaire during the PGL Masters Bucharest in October. This adjustment comes as both players are expected to be away to welcome their children into the world.

The move occurs in the wake of challenging performance for Vitality; after a successful period last year with five consecutive tournament victories, the team has struggled recently, failing to reach the top four in their last three competitions. Their most recent outing saw them exit the BLAST Bounty Season 2 after a match against Liquid, without making it to the LAN finals.

jL has been a free agent since leaving Natus Vincere in July. He had previously stepped down from the main roster a year prior, taking a competitive break. His latest experience in tier-one matches was with MOUZ on loan, achieving notable third-place finishes at the PGL Astana and CS Asia Championships earlier this year.

If the arrangement is finalized, Vitality's lineups for the upcoming tournaments are as follows:

For BLAST Open Porto: Dan "apEX" Madesclaire, Robin "ropz" Kool, Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, Shahar "flameZ" Shushan, Justinas "jL" Lekavicius.

For PGL Masters Bucharest: William "mezii" Merriman, Robin "ropz" Kool, Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, Shahar "flameZ" Shushan, Justinas "jL" Lekavicius.