FURIA win IEM Chengdu 2025: defeat Vitality and join the ESL Grand Slam run

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This victory is a significant upset in the world of competitive CS2. FURIA is performing exceptionally well and this win will give them a lot of confidence going into the upcoming Budapest Major.

FURIA won the IEM Chengdu 2025 championship after battling back from a loss to MOUZ and defeating several top Counter-Strike 2 teams.

FURIA had been showing a lot of promise, especially after performing well at EPL Season 22. They’d also recently won a couple of tournaments – FISSURE Playground #2 and the Thunderpick World Championship 2025. However, their performance at Intel Extreme Masters Chengdu 2025 exceeded expectations.

Facing the Vitality demons

As a huge Team Vitality fan, I have to say the first half of 2025 was incredible for them in CS2! They absolutely dominated, winning every single tournament they entered. Even after their winning streak ended, they still manage to intimidate everyone they play against – they’re just that strong!

Team Vitality has consistently been a tough opponent for FURIA. They previously defeated FURIA in the quarterfinals of ESL Pro League Season 22, and facing them again in the grand final of IEM Chengdu 2025 presented a significant hurdle.

FURIA came well-prepared for the match, despite a close series with several maps decided by just a few rounds – three ended 13-10 and two 13-11. However, it was remarkable that Vitality couldn’t win a single map in the best-of-five final.

Losing to MOUZ, defeating The MongolZ and Falcons

During the group stage of IEM Chengdu 2025, FURIA won matches against both the lesser-known Lynn Vision Gaming and the highly-ranked G2 Esports.

MOUZ turned out to be too strong opponents, as they defeated FURIA with a 2:1.

FURIA faced MongolZ in the quarterfinals. MongolZ are currently struggling, especially after losing player Senzu. FURIA defeated them 2-0 in the match.

Team Falcons demonstrated their skill at both the CS2 Esports World Cup 2025 and EPL S22. Coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen successfully built a strong team dynamic with a mix of established stars and an up-and-coming player. However, Falcons were defeated by FURIA with a score of 2-0, including a 5-13 loss on the map Inferno.

Falcons won the third-place match against MOUZ. The earlier semifinal result might actually show how strong FURIA is, rather than suggest Falcons played poorly.

molodoy and YEKINDAR to make the difference

FURIA had a strong finish to 2025, winning two major CS2 esports tournaments leading up to IEM Chengdu.

  • Thunderpick World Championship 2025
  • FISSURE Playground #2

So, some cool new players joined our team back in April 2025 – Danil “molodoy” Golubenko and Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis. I’m really excited to see what they bring to the game!

molodoy earned the MVP title in Chengdu.

FURIA join the ESL Grand Slam VI run

This victory puts FURIA in an exclusive group, becoming one of only three teams to win an ESL Grand Slam VI tournament. Here’s a look at the results following Intel Extreme Masters Chengdu 2024.

Astralis in the top 8 and other surprises

Neither NAVI nor Team Spirit will be moving on to the Playoffs at IEM Chengdu 2025. While their recent performance hasn’t been strong, fans are still understandably disappointed with this outcome.

Astralis also performed strongly at the tournament, making it to the final brackets. They had impressive wins against NAVI and The MongolZ, but ultimately lost to Team Falcons in the group stage and were eliminated by Vitality in the quarterfinals.

BLAST Rivals Fall 2025, a CS2 esports tournament, will feature top teams like FURIA, Vitality, and Falcons. The competition is scheduled to take place from November 12th to 16th.

Keep an eye out for the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, the biggest Counter-Strike 2 tournament of the year, running from November 24th to December 14th.

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2025-11-09 19:41