jL Gets Singapore Major Stickers Instead of apEX: Vitality’s VRS Situation Explained

Owen Harsono Published October 26, 2026

We have quite a funny situation in our hands, as Justinas “jL” Lekavičius will be getting PGL Singapore Major stickers under Team Vitality, while the team’s in-game leader Dan “apEX” Madesclaire won’t. Here’s why.

Why is jL Getting Major Stickers Instead of apEX?

Former NAVI player jL is currently standing in for Team Vitality at PGL Masters Bucharest 2026, while the team’s captain apEX is sitting out to take a break. The Lithuanian is simply a temporary replacement for one tournament.

The catch is, this PGL event is going to be the final tournament for Team Vitality before the PGL Singapore Major invites are sent out. According to Valve Regional Standings (VRS) rules, a player who has played five of the team’s past ten matches will be registered under the org’s VRS roster, and Vitality are guaranteed to play at least five matches in Bucharest.

So, jL will be a part of Vitality’s VRS lineup right before the Singapore Major invites are locked in. The VRS cut-off date for it lands on November 2, and Vitality do not have any other matches scheduled until then. All of this means apEX will have to be registered as the team’s substitute, while jL becomes a part of the starting five on paper.

Image via PGL

Will apEX Play for Vitality at the Singapore Major?

Yes, jL getting stickers and getting registered under Vitality’s VRS roster doesn’t mean apEX is out of the team – the French leader is still going to play at the last Major of the year.

Heading into the event, jL will listed as one of Vitality’s players, while apEX will be the “substitute”. However, teams can freely use their substitutes as much as they’d like, meaning they can continue playing with apEX throughout the entire Singapore Major. All of this is just technicality.

So, we’ll see Team Vitality’s real starting five in Singapore. However, jL will most likely be an actual substitute for the team in case any of the players are suddenly unable to compete at the tournament.

Image via Sophie Barrowclough for BLAST

A very similar situation happened in the previous Major, IEM Cologne 2026, where Team Falcons brought in Finn “karrigan” Andersen as a replacement for Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski. Though karrigan was registered as Falcons’ substitute, they still managed to field him for the whole tournament.

The funny part is, if Vitality were to win the PGL Singapore Major – which is a real possibility since they’re one of the best CS2 teams in the world – then jL would also be getting the golden Champions stickers instead of apEX. This is exactly what happened with Team Falcons last Major, where kyxsan got them instead of karrigan.

Feature Image Credit: Sophie Barrowclough for BLAST