Team Vitality is approaching VALORANT Champions Shanghai with a reset in practice and communication, according to player Dawid ‘PROFEK’ Swiec. In a September 19 interview with THESPIKE, he described a difficult European practice environment, plans for a bootcamp after arriving in China and lessons drawn from Vitality’s EMEA Stage 2 losses. Vitality qualified as EMEA’s fourth seed through Championship Points and is scheduled to begin its Group B campaign against Global Esports on September 26.
The interview is not a claim that Vitality has already solved every problem. PROFEK described how the team’s recent play and internal communication fell short of what it needed in Stage 2. Vitality reached Champions despite losing to lower-tier opposition in that regional playoff, an outcome he treated as a reason to examine fundamentals rather than dismiss the defeats. His account presents the Shanghai preparation as work in progress. It does not report a completed roster change or reveal a new game strategy.
Practice conditions are part of the immediate challenge. PROFEK said many qualified teams were no longer scrimming in Europe, so Vitality had been playing against mixed rosters with variable quality. The team expected more structured scrims during a planned China bootcamp. This is a practical scheduling detail for a team preparing for a long international event: it changes the available opposition, but by itself it says nothing about how Vitality will perform on stage.
A change in practice, not a promised result
PROFEK’s explanation centers on two connected areas. One is competitive fundamentals: after Vitality’s Stage 2 exit, he felt the side had borrowed approaches that did not fit it and had not played with sufficient shared ideas. The other is the atmosphere in which those ideas are developed. He identified clearer communication and a better team environment as priorities before Champions. Those are the player’s own reflections in the interview, not an independent diagnosis of every round Vitality lost.
He also described the demands of a season that included Masters London and the Esports World Cup. In his account, intensity and accumulated emotion made it hard to sustain the same practice rhythm. His preferred response is not simply adding more hours. He spoke about enjoying the work in China and avoiding a mindset built around extremely long days. The point for readers is a shift in preparation priorities: Vitality still needs competitive repetitions, but PROFEK says the quality of communication and the sustainability of practice matter alongside the raw number of hours.
That context helps explain why the interview is timely. Champions begins September 24, and teams have only a short window to turn lessons from regional play into a coherent international approach. Vitality’s berth came through Championship Points rather than a Stage 2 title. It is therefore reasonable to say the side arrives with questions about its recent form, but not to treat qualification itself as accidental or to predict an early exit. The result of the Shanghai matches remains open.
PROFEK also expressed excitement about travelling to China and meeting fans there. That personal note sits beside the competitive concerns, rather than replacing them. A new setting and a longer stay can change a team’s routine, especially when practice shifts from European mixes to a planned local bootcamp. Yet the available interview gives an intention, not evidence that the China scrims have already fixed the issues he identified. Reporting that distinction prevents a preparation story from becoming a premature turnaround narrative.
Vitality’s confirmed Group B test
The schedule gives the reset a concrete first checkpoint. Vitality’s opening Group B match is set for September 26 against Global Esports. EDward Gaming and LOUD are the other teams in the group. PROFEK said he was interested in facing LOUD and recognized the particular challenge of sharing a group with EDward Gaming. Those remarks convey his expectations for opponents; they are not a bracket prediction or a statement that any meeting beyond the scheduled opener is guaranteed.
The first match will show how the team handles competitive pressure after the practice changes it has discussed. It will not, on its own, prove every conclusion about the season. Vitality’s path in Shanghai depends on actual group results. For now, readers can distinguish confirmed facts — a fourth-seed qualification, a September 26 opener and the named group — from PROFEK’s view of what must improve. The interview provides insight into a team’s thinking before Champions; the tournament will supply the outcome later.
PROFEK has framed Vitality’s Champions preparation around better fundamentals, communication and a healthier practice routine. The China bootcamp and Group B opener against Global Esports are the next confirmed steps. Whether those changes produce a stronger run is still unanswered, and the September 19 interview is most useful when read as a clear account of intentions rather than proof of a finished revival.
