The finish line is in sight at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, and I’m not sure I’m ready for the fun to end. We’ve seen the best and the worst of CS over the last few weeks, although overall, it’s been an incredibly entertaining event. Today, it was Astralis vs. MOUZ and Falcons vs. FaZe Clan battling it out for those two Grand Final spots – let’s take a look at how it played out.
Astralis bottlejob costs Danes Grand-Final berth
Credit: Sebastian Pandelache | PGL
One round. Eight match points. They didn’t know it at the time, but being able to close out map one of Inferno from 12:4 up has cost Astralis their first Grand Final appearance in years, with MOUZ going on to take this series in a back-and-forth 2:1. There are absolutely no excuses – this one should have been a 2:0 for Astralis, and we should be having a very different conversation right now. Instead, the Danes will be left to lick their wounds, and lament what might’ve been at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025.
I mean, what really is there to say about this? Look at the numbers – stavn, with 29 kills across the three-map series, has shown why so many consider him to be a Group Stage merchant. A little more out of him on Inferno, and Astralis are Finalists of PGL Cluj-Napoca. He was far from the only problem, but the rest of the lineup broke the 40-kill barrier while he sat under 30. A problem for any title-challenging team.
Anyway, enough about Astralis. This is MOUZ’s win to enjoy, after a fantastic performance out of everyone on the lineup. I want to give special praise to Spinx, though. On the decider on Ancient, some of his holds were awesome. You would never believe he didn’t this play this map on Vitality, would you?
Falcons flatten FaZe Clan to secure first-ever Final
Credit: Sebastian Pandelache | PGL
Throughout the entirety of this CS2 tournament, I’ve had FaZe Clan pegged as the winners of PGL Cluj-Napoca. I was so, so wrong, with Falcons able to dump them from the event in a surprisingly straightforward 2:0 series. FaZe were just never able to get into it, and they’ll go on to see this one as a massive missed opportunity when they look back.
For Falcons though, they’ve found a formula for success. You have stars like NiKo delivering the kind of absurd rounds the previous Falcons roster could only dream of winning. Then you back that up with some solid fundamental Counter-Strike called to near-perfection by kyxsan. Regardless of your opinion of Falcons the organization, Falcons the Counter-Strike team are looking pretty solid right now. Their reward is a first-ever Grand-Final appearance on LAN for Falcons, with that NiKo transfer already paying dividends.