ESL Pro League Grand Finals: Vitality vs MOUZ – Can Zyw0o stop the MOUZ momentum?

ESL Pro League Season 21 has been a long-running tournament and is now down to the final match - the Grand Final. Team Vitality takes on MOUZ in the tournament’s Grand Final to claim the title of the best Counter-Strike 2 team. The two teams have had different routes through to the Grand Finals. While MOUZ’s appearance in the Grand Finals comes as a massive surprise, especially after their victory over Team Spirit, Vitality’s presence is a no-brainer. The team is one of the strongest rosters in the scene and is now the favorite to win the event, with Team Spirit’s absence from the Grand Finals. 

Vitality has a star-studded roster unlike Team Spirit. With the likes of apEX, Zywoo, and Ropz, this squad boasts firepower. XTQZZZ is one of the most experienced coaches in the scene, and his role has primarily been to ensure the roster performs well together and in synergy. So far, with the IEM Katowice 2025 victory, he has done a fabulous job.

Before this event, the team finished 5-8th at BLAST Bounty Spring 2025, losing to Eternal Fire. They bounced back in the very next tournament—the IEM Katowice 2025—where they defeated Team Spirit 3-0 to lift the trophy. Vitality comes into ESL Pro League as the team to beat, but they don’t have a massive advantage over the next few teams in competition.

Vitality has been unbeaten so far in the tournament with the team’s performance improving one map after another. However, Vitality has had a relatively easier route through the Playoffs. The teams they have faced, Team Liquid and TheMongolZ, are not the biggest challenges for Zyw0o and co. It will be interesting to see whether the lack of ‘serious competition’ would be a hindrance for the team’s preparation for the ESL Pro League Season 21 Grand Finals. 

MOUZ has had a fantastic run through the playoffs. Their first playoffs match was against G2 esports, and the 2-1 victory highlighted the team’s resilience and their understanding of their opponents. The series started with a very close loss on Inferno, a G2 map pick. The next two maps were a big win for MOUZ as they dominated their opponents on the T-side on both Nuke and Ancient. 

The biggest surprise for many was MOUZ’s victory against Team Spirit. Team Spirit were one of the favorites to win ESL Pro League Season 21, but they lost out to MOUZ in the semifinals yesterday. 

Once again, MOUZ came out ahead with their map pool, with the team putting up a splendid performance on Nuke and Ancient once again. Torzsi finished the series with 60 frags to his name. He did not have as many frags as donk (who had 64).

The player was instrumental in several clutch situations to win crucial rounds for MOUZ. Overall, MOUZ has remained a team where frags are more evenly distributed across the playing five.

MOUZ’s only loss in this tournament has come against Team Vitality. The loss was a relatively one-sided affair in the group stage where ZyW0o towered over his opponents. However, MOUZ have had some time to practice and improve on their playstyle. The momentum is on their side as well, which probably gives them a big advantage. 

So far in this tournament, Zywoo has a 1.47 rating across 12 maps. Meanwhile, the best player on MOUZ has been torzsi with a 1.2 rating across 15 maps. With a +92 KDA for Zywoo, it is evident that the path ahead for MOUZ would be to contain Zywoo. He is instrumental in Vitality’s strategic playstyle and results so far. Containing him would be a massive blow to Vitality’s performance. That is exactly something that would be on top of the MOUZ priority list.

Team Vitality vs MOUZ match will broadcast live on Twitch. We have also embedded the stream below for your convenience.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Counter-Strike 2 news and updates.