Vitality rescued a 4-12 deficit and a 1-kill half from flameZ.
MOUZ watch Vitality walk on to their tenth grand final stage this year. flameZ said after the match that they key was being “a lot more initiating” on the Vitality side, not letting a 1-kill half get to him in an otherwise stellar tournament.
Team Vitality faced off against MOUZ in the semifinal of IEM Chengdu. MOUZ made it straight to the semis after winning against Vitality and FURIA. Vitality won the lower bracket to earn a rematch against their 2025 rival, with whom they had an 8-2 positive record.
The first map was Nuke, Vitality’s pick, but it did not seem that way at the start. MOUZ got off to a dominant CT side campaign, only losing three rounds at the half against their nemesis. Things got even better when they lost the pistol but won the force buy, getting up 12-4.
MOUZ fumble unloseable map
While up 12-4, MOUZ kept losing round after round as Vitality came alive and closed the gap. ZywOo came online with the defensive sniper, coming back to haunt MOUZ. No one but torzsi seemed to have an answer on MOUZ, as they hemorrhaged rounds until it was overtime.
Once there, ZywOo closed out the map with a 4k to delete the ramp push, and it was MOUZ’s hearts broken in the first map of the semifinal.
MOUZ get it done on Train, competitive on Inferno
Despite giving up an 8-round lead, MOUZ still had their map pick. The first half was their terrorist side, where they got 4 initial rounds, but capitulated in the rest of the half. Vitality got up to an 8-4 lead, with their eyes on the grand final.
However, 4 T rounds proved enough, as MOUZ’s CT aggression constantly stifled Vitality. Despite being a close 13-11 affair, MOUZ’s defensive side got it done to send it to an Inferno decider.
The first half of Inferno was back and forth, with force buy wars determining the start. There were mistakes on both sides, as flameZ took over 10 rounds to get a kill, and xertioN looked visibly frustrated defending banana.
xertioN powered up as Vitality grinded out necessary rounds. The result was a 6-6 half.
Vitality get solid win despite xertioN carry
The second half began with a clean pistol round from flameZ, bouncing back after his almost kill-less T side.
In the interview afterwards, flameZ highlighted his teammates “hyping him up” during his poor start as a reason for their victory.
Once guns came out, xertioN and MOUZ did everything they could, as xertioN took space and MOUZ repeatedly hit B. However, Vitality didn’t budge with their rotations, and MOUZ eventually tried their fortunes on A.
It was a solid effort, but ropz and ZywOo were too much to handle on the other side. A clean 2v2 clutch from ropz closed out the series to confirm Vitality’s finals spot.
Match Statistics
MOUZ vs Team Vitality – | IEM Chengdu 2025 Semi-final
13-16 (Nuke) – ZywOo | 1.75 rating
13-11 (Train) – ropz | 1.56 rating
13-10 (Inferno) – ropz | 1.67 rating
