apEX's troops are now just one tournament victory away from the Intel Grand Slam.

Vitality have defeated Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi's MOUZ in the ESL Pro League S21 grand final with a dominant 3-0 scoreline (Dust2 13-9, Nuke 13-4, Inferno 13-5) to win their second trophy of the year.

The title puts Vitality just one tournament win away from the Intel Grand Slam and the $1,000,000 prize after previously winning Cologne 2024 and Katowice 2025.

The series began on Dust2, where Vitality started their T side with a clear game plan of abusing the B site. The plan worked with aplomb, as consecutive attacks on Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo's site got them a 9-3 lead, while the Finn finished the half with one kill.

MOUZ grew into the game in the second half, but the deficit proved too much to overcome. Vitality's half-buy eventually got them a 13-9 win on their pick despite Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut missing several key shots and recording his third map rated below 0.95 this year.

Vitality kept up their momentum on Nuke and won the early exchanges before winning several XvsX situations and rag-tag buys to go up 9-3. Their second-half pistol victory then made their win a mere formality, with the map ending on a 13-4 scoreline.

Inferno was another dominant Vitality performance, as MOUZ looked to be well out of the series on the third map. Curious decisions on the CT side cost MOUZ several rounds, meaning they went into the second half six rounds behind. They never recovered from that deficit and petered out in a 13-5 loss to mark the end of their undefeated streak in EPL grand finals.

Vitality are one title away from the Grand Slam

An eleven-match win streak and their second title of 2025 puts Vitality one tournament victory away from the Intel Grand Slam and the $1,000,000 prize.

They need to win one of their next five tournaments to claim the award, with their next test set to come at IEM Melbourne.

"We grind a lot. I did my best two events back-to-back. We didn't enjoy most of the last six months, but it wasn't just Lotan's [Spinx's] fault.

"This is a great team to play with, and I'm happy to have these four guys to have a bit longer career," Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire said in a post-match broadcast interview.

Despite going missing in the final, the new-look MOUZ has potential

The match against Vitality was far from ideal for Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman and company to say the least, but the team has shown some solid signs under Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin's leadership.

"It felt like we lost every anti-force buy. It was a bit of a shame, but we can't take anything away from the last three months, but clearly, we're not all the way there," Dennis "⁠sycrone⁠" Nielsen shared in a post-match interview.

"They're in incredible form, we had to pull out our A game, but they outclassed us today."

MOUZ have now made two back-to-back finals with Spinx and will hope to take their momentum into their next event, BLAST Open Lisbon, set to start on Wednesday.

ESL Pro League Season 21Best of 5 MOUZMatchpage 0 3 16th March 2025 Vitality 9Dust2 13 4Nuke 13 5Inferno 13

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.1
Lotan 'Spinx' GiladiSpinx	43 - 43	0	67.5	0.97
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsástorzsi	38 - 41	-3	67.4	0.87
Dorian 'xertioN' BermanxertioN	29 - 49	-20	75.3	0.82
Jimi 'Jimpphat' SaloJimpphat	30 - 46	-16	77.1	0.78
Ludvig 'Brollan' BrolinBrollan	30 - 40	-10	55.0	0.76

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.1
William 'mezii' Merrimanmezii	42 - 26	+16	77.8	1.33
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	43 - 34	+9	84.0	1.28
Shahar 'flameZ' ShushanflameZ	43 - 33	+10	75.5	1.25
Robin 'ropz' Koolropz	45 - 37	+8	80.5	1.25
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	45 - 40	+5	84.1	1.24

Ludvig 'Brollan' Brolin Age: 22 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1398 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.67 Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo Age: 18 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 651 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.61 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Age: 24 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.27 Maps played: 1406 KPR: 0.84 DPR: 0.60 Dorian 'xertioN' Berman Age: 20 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 614 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.68 Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Age: 32 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 2392 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.69 MOUZ #8 Lotan 'Spinx' GiladiLudvig 'Brollan' BrolinÁdám 'torzsi' TorzsásJimi 'Jimpphat' SaloDorian 'xertioN' Berman Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi Age: 24 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 829 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.64 Vitality #2 Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireRobin 'ropz' KoolMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautShahar 'flameZ' ShushanWilliam 'mezii' Merriman Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen Age: 29 Team: MOUZC