Vitality stomp MOUZ in lightning-quick ESL Pro League final

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Vitality is beginning to stamp its name into the history books with a blistering start to 2025.

Team Vitality is solidifying its position as the new champion in CS2 following their 3-0 (13-9, 13-4, 13-5) crushing of MOUZ, led by Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, in the ESL Pro League Season 21 finals.

In the end, it was William “mezii” Merriman from Britain who received the MVP award, but every member of Vitality played an essential role as they strategically defeated MOUZ, only losing two maps throughout the entire tournament.

It’s Vitality’s world, and we’re all living in it

Vitality entered the March 16 grand final as favorites despite MOUZ coming to EPL fresh off a win at PGL Cluj-Napoca. Not many could predict the shellacking we’d witness in the grand final, however, with MOUZ given no room to breathe across the best-of-five.

The closest they’d come was in the opener of Dust 2. MOUZ mounted a comeback after a lopsided 9-3 T half from Vitality, and while they’d manage six T rounds of their own, they didn’t have enough to stop Vitality from reaching 13 rounds first. Shahar “flameZ” Shushan (21-14, 1.40 HLTV rating) was the pick of the bunch.

From there it was all business from Vitality. They mirrored their Dust 2 first half scoreline on the CT side of Nuke, this time converting the 9-3 lead into a swift 13-4 victory. For a third time, they posted nine rounds and led out Inferno, closing the map and tournament 13-5. Just five kills separated the squad across all three maps.

It’s a performance that had pundits preparing the “era” tag for this version of Vitality, which has looked deadly since acquiring Robin “ropz” Kool from FaZe Clan in January. Vitality shook off a top eight finish at the BLAST Bounty to win IEM Katowice and now EPL S21 — and in doing so, claimed the top spot on the Valve Regional Standings (VRS).

After their post-finals interview with Freya Spiers, the MVP ropz expressed his astonishment at how swiftly Vitality had come together to fill their trophy cabinet. “It was much the same in FaZe; I didn’t anticipate it. It does catch me a bit off guard, but joining a team that is highly respected and where every tournament you’re expected to excel is somewhat surprising.

The English Premier League (EPL) team S21 has won their second league title, adding another achievement to their collection. They have made five attempts to win the ESL Grand Slam and will have another chance to do so by winning the million-dollar prize at IEM Melbourne in late April.

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2025-03-17 05:42