Vitality secure first-ever Katowice finals berth over The MongolZ

Dominance over The MongolZ sets apEX up for a shot at a trophy that has eluded him his entire career.

Vitality have reached the grand final of IEM Katowice for the first time in the organization's history and the first in Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's 15-year-long career after a 2-0 statement victory over The MongolZ (13-7 Mirage, 13-9 Nuke).

The Mongolian side couldn't get anything going in the series and looked a shadow of what they had against Eternal Fire in the quarter-finals, with only Usukhbayar "⁠910⁠" Banzragch offering resistance on Mirage and Vitality repeatedly exploiting Mini on Nuke to storm to victory.

Vitality won IEM Cologne 2024 and will have a chance to secure ESL's other most coveted trophy when they face the winner of Natus Vincere vs. Spirit in a best-of-five grand final on championship Sunday.

"We all remember a lot of Katowice and Cologne finals," apEX told Oliver "⁠OJ Borg⁠" D'Anastasi on stage after the match. "I just hope that this one is going to be great, one of the best without a doubt, and good luck because we will be ready."

Date	Matches
IEM Katowice 2025
09/02/2025	Vitality 17:00 Spirit	Match

apEX breaks Katowice playoffs curse

apEX had only reached playoffs twice in Katowice, once at the 2014 Major and again with Vitality in 2023, but never won a match in the Spodek until today.

"You have to wait 11 years to win a playoff game here, that's crazy," he said in the post-match. "Only three times in playoffs for me, but maybe it's the year.

"One more game tomorrow, I think we showed really good CS today and we need to keep growing for tomorrow. If we do that, we might take that one home."

"[When] you play CS for 18 years or more, what you love is just playing here, so it just makes everything better," he added. "Winning finally in the Spodek is awesome, so thank you guys."

The French captain told HLTV in January how important the trophy in Poland is to him, setting his sights on winning it and one more Major after winning IEM Cologne 2024 and the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023.

"If I get that it will be a second Major as an IGL and a Katowice, so I'll have won everything," he had said.

You could see how much it meant to apEX as he arrived on stage in blistering form, finding four multi-kills in the first five rounds of Mirage to drum up an early lead.

A triple from Garidmagnai "⁠bLitz⁠" Byambasuren and 910's AWP helped bring the game back to even keel at 5-5, but a crucial 1v2 by Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut allowed Vitality to win out the half before they took control on the attack to storm to victory.

ropz's clutches and lurks continue to open up the playbook

Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool closed out Mirage with a 1v2 and kicked off Nuke where he left off, making up for Vitality losing the pistol and conversion by storming out Door with a timely flash.

The Estonian continued to find impact throughout the first half for Vitality, who exploited The MongolZ's Mini hold and A setups for a dominant 8-2 lead.

The Mongolian team salvaged two more at the end of the half but were quickly left facing match point in the second, and just barely kept themselves alive by recovering 3v5, 2v3, and 2v4 situations before their run in Katowice was brought to an end.

"Since ropz joined the roster we feel really free," ZywOo said on the desk after the series. "New roster, new fresh dynamic in the team. We're feeling really good for the final.

"You can see ropz has a lot of experience [on stage]. He is really calm, you don't feel any pressure with him, you know you can win any round with him. He's so special, because you can see the experience he has.

"He can turn a round alone easily. We can be 2v4 and instantly he's got two kills because he lurked somewhere, and that's his strength."

The MongolZ head home

The MongolZ reached playoffs at the Shanghai Major and started 2025 off in just as confident form, moving past Liquid and GamerLegion in the group stage and outlasting Eternal Fire in the quarter-finals to win a huge arena match.

"It was great, it felt amazing in the Spodek. It's a really meaningful stage for the CS community," Sodbayar "⁠Techno⁠" Munkhbold told Tres "⁠stunna⁠" Saranthus in an exit interview.

The Mongolian said that the continued stage experience will be helpful for his team moving forward, but admitted that they aren't happy with the result.

"We did a good performance, but to be honest this was not what we wanted," he said.