Vitality is beginning to stamp its name into the history books with a blistering start to 2025.
Team Vitality is firming as CS2's new final boss after the Dan "apEX" Madesclaire-led squad demolished MOUZ 3-0 (13-9, 13-4, 13-5) to claim victory at ESL Pro League Season 21.
It was British rifler William "mezii" Merriman who took home the final MVP honors, but all five Vitality members pulled their weight as they systematically dismantled MOUZ, dropping just two maps all 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.
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Vitality ran away with things
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).
In a post-final interview with Freya Spiers, fan-voted MVP ropz couldn't believe Vitality had gelled so quickly as to fill the trophy cabinet. "It was the same in FaZe, I didn't expect it. It does come as a small surprise but [I] joined a team that is regarded as one of the best and every tournament you're expected to win."
The EPL S21 win also is the squad's third notch on the ESL Grand Slam. They've got five attempts to win the Slam, with their next chance to claim the million-dollar prize at IEM Melbourne in late April.
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