The ESL Pro League Season 21 Semi-Finals provided plenty more Counter-Strike esports entertainment on the server, with MOUZ vs. Spirit on one side of the tournament bracket and Vitality vs. The MongolZ on the other.
If you want to know how things went down in these two matches, keep reading. We’ve got all the important details about both matches right here.
MOUZ rock Spirit to go the distance at ESL Pro League
Credit: ESL
MOUZ are quite the ESL Pro League merchants, aren’t they? After beating Team Spirit in the unlikeliest of victories here, MOUZ have reached their third Grand Final out of their last four ESL Pro League appearances. It’s an impressive record in a studio environment, this time beating a team that came into the series as heavy favorites. I certainly didn’t see a situation in which Spirit lost here, but full credit to MOUZ – they were comfortably the better team throughout, even if they needed a third map to get over the line.
The most impressive work here came from MOUZ AWPer torzsi. It was massive clutches from him in the final rounds of maps one and three that won the game for MOUZ, a continuation of his growth that we’ve seen since the start of 2023. Spirit’s chances weren’t helped by a complete disappearance from magixx, who could not muster much resistance to anything MOUZ did in this one. Sorry, donk, your wait for an ESL Pro League title will have to go on for now.
Vitality defeat brawly MongolZ
Credit: ESL
Over on the other side of the bracket, we got the result we all saw coming, with Vitality able to defeat The MongolZ. No upsets over here. To The MongolZ’s credit, they made Vitality work for their win, brawling their way to a map win. It was however sandwiched between two dominant Vitality performances, 13:4 and 13:2 the scorelines. What can you even say, really? Vitality are the best CS2 team in the world right now, as shown by Spirit’s inconsistencies. They’re continuing to show it at ESL Pro League, leaving no one in doubt about their quality.
For Vitality, this was the flameZ and ZywOo show. We’re reminded of the quality of this duo just about every time they step onto the server, and today was no different. Even an off day from mezii couldn’t stop Vitality’s romp to victory toward the end. The question now is how do you stop this team? I don’t know, and I have a feeling we won’t find out the answer in tomorrow’s match.