The two semifinals of ESL Pro League S21 will be played later today but not between the teams that we expected.
Vitality were supposed to encounter Natus Vincere, while Spirit were probably preparing for G2 Esports. Instead, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut’s team will be facing The MongolZ while Danil “donk” Kryshkovets’ will play against MOUZ.
MOUZ vs. Spirit
The first semifinal of ESL Pro League S21 is scheduled to start at 18:30 CET. The two teams last encountered each other in December 2024, in the playoffs of Perfect World Shanghai Major. Spirit won that match 2 – 1.
Prior to that, Spirit won another match at the end of August 2024, at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade #2. The score was once again, 2 – 1.
It seems that the skill difference between these two teams was not that big last season. But since then, Spirit have upgraded their strategy significantly. They also haven’t made any roster changes, while MOUZ have.
However, it should be noted that MOUZ’s roster change was a strong one: Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek was replaced by Lotan “Spinx” Giladi.
The former Vitality player is known to be one of the best in the world at his role, so it’s no surprise that MOUZ’s results have improved significantly since he was signed in January this year. MOUZ won the trophy at PGL Cluj-Napoca just three weeks ago.
This match will likely end 1 – 2 in favor of Spirit but MOUZ do have a decent chance of causing an upset.
Vitality vs. The MongolZ
Vitality and The MongolZ encountered each other four times in the last year. Each time, Vitality won. The last match took place at IEM Katowice, where Vitality won the trophy.
The situation here is pretty clear. Even though The MongolZ defeated NAVI in the quarterfinals with ease (13 – 6 on Mirage, 13 – 6 on Ancient), I don’t think they can beat the best team in the world. ZywOo is in great shape and Robin “ropz” Kool is simply phenomenal at what he does. Possibly the best lurker in the world.
