BLAST Rivals S1 semi-finals as they happened

Vitality 12-8 Spirit

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Vitality 11-8 Spirit

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Vitality 10-6 Spirit

Spirit are going to have to get the job done the hard way after losing the pistol, their force, and subsequent eco allowed Vitality up to double digits immediately.

Both rounds after the pistol were close, though, meaning Vitality's economy is already in tatters after Spirit won the first gun round.

Vitality 6-5 Spirit

Some sloppy trading out of Vitality at Ramp gave Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets the space for a double, and by the time they coordinated a peek, Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia had rotated in for support.

An A attack in the next round failed too, and now the gap is down to just one round thanks to Spirit adapting to Vitality's attempts to sow chaos into the game.

Vitality 6-2 Spirit

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Vitality 5-2 Spirit

Vitality are back on the horse after an early back-and-forth kicked off from Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov's triple kill, with a flawless Upper execute getting them onto A site and a Lower hit in the next chaining together two.

Vitality 2-1 Spirit

Not such a clean start for Vitality this time around despite not dropping a player in the pistol.

They lost all but one player against Spirit's ensuing force and gave over an AK, but it was unexpectedly Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov's Five-SeveN in the next that made the difference.

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Vitality 12-7 Spirit

An exceptional call out of Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire made all the difference to get his team on map point. After a shoulder peek spotted out an AWP in Apartments, Vitality put some B pressure on to pull Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia back from Catwalk and used that to sneak up and split A.

Vitality 11-7 Spirit

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Vitality 11-5 Spirit

Some tilt from Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire after Vitality thoroughly checked every spot on site other than Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov's, but it's hard to imagine a comeback with this much of a deficit.

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Vitality 11-3 Spirit

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Vitality 11-1 Spirit

0-12, that is.

Not a kill in the half for Spirit's captain, and a painful way for it to finish.

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Vitality 10-1 Spirit

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut ducking IRL after missing an AWP shot, hitting a crisp Deagle headshot right after, and a sloppy spray from Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets, all capped off by some classic Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire banter as Vitality continue to lay waste to Spirit.

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Vitality 4-1 Spirit

A clean sweep in the pistol, one player down to Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets's Glock in the ensuing anti-eco, and an immediate reply to Spirit' first gun round win with two of their own, and Vitality are in cruise control of their ooponent's map pick.

Vitality have been unstoppable for the past three months and sit upon a 23-game winstreak coming into today's semi-final, equalling the 2019 Liquid roster's streak after beating MOUZ in the group stage.

Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's side beat Spirit twice during that spree — 3-0 at IEM Katowice and 2-1 at BLAST Open Lisbon — and come into this matchup as heavy favorites, but with the French captain admitting the team are fatigued and Spirit having a month off before arriving in Denmark, this may not be as one-sided as before.

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apEX: "I feel we're a bit fried right now"

On loss to Falcons: "I think Falcons played great today, and I think for us we're still just losing to ourselves a little bit. Now we have to weeks to go home, work on it, process, and see what level we can get to in Dallas and go for it at the Major."

On Brollan IGLing: "I think Brollan brings a lot of old-school IGL qualities already; he is a super-hard worker and is constantly watching demos and preparing, also something he did when he was playing himself. In terms of bringing new material, watching teams, and staying ahead of the meta, he's easy to work with."

On Falcons as a threat: "I think we're on a good trajectory, but also Falcons are. You didn't mention Spirit, but they are also there. I think a lot of teams right now can be competitive. I don't think it makes us more nervous; if anything, it puts us on a tension edge where we need to be our sharpest."

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Falcons will be heading into their map pick of Dust2 with an advantage in their semi-final series against MOUZ, having wrested control of MOUZ's pick of Nuke in OT despite a quiet game from superstar rifler Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač.

MOUZ will now need to bag a win on not only their opponent's pick of Dust2, but also the decider of Mirage if the young international side want to continue to vie for a place in the BLAST Rivals grand final.

Falcons 12-12 MOUZ

Two low-buy wins have been key for Falcons here. MOUZ had the Falcons default figured out, and were picking Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač Outside nearly every default, but Falcons found enough tricks in the bag to force OT.

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Falcons 9-10 MOUZ

Falcons were on the verge of losing control of this game, Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač has been having a rough time Outside, but some up-tempo rounds have gotten them back in it.

Brollan last-second defuse

Falcons win with Tec-9s

Falcons 7-5 MOUZ

After all is said and done, Falcons earn a winning half.

Some moments of discombobulation cost Falcons mid-way through the half, after reading MOUZ so well early they had a couple moments where they seemed to lose track of what was going on.

Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif's Five-Seven 3K on an eco did enough, however, to haul his team to a winning half.

Jimpphat and Brollan combine

Magisk wins the eco

Falcons 5-3 MOUZ

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Falcons 5-2 MOUZ

Since guns came up, Falcons are in control. Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač's 4K on the bad buy was key, as it set his team up for a strong half.

MOUZ seem too easy to read at the moment, their defaults are getting picked apart.

Falcons 1-2 MOUZ

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Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen spoke to Mike "⁠DarfMike⁠" Winnick ahead of his team's fight against MOUZ.

"MOUZ is probably the second best team after Vitality this year, so it's a tough opponent. We got the better of them last time in Melbourne, but I know what they are capable of. It just felt like everything was working for us, and on the other side for them, it was a tough game.

"Our goal is to try and have this patience and search for the momentum, because this is what worked last time for us. When we got the flow going everyone was communicating more, taking more fights, and playing on our terms.

"I expect a much tougher game, because MOUZ is, as I said before, one of the best teams in the world."

The matchup between MOUZ and Falcons is one we have already seen play out five times across 2025, with MOUZ currently leading the head-to-head 3-2.

Date	Matches
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025
17/02/2025	MOUZ Finished 1:2 Falcons	Match
23/02/2025	MOUZ Finished 3:1 Falcons	Match

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 21
08/03/2025	MOUZ Finished 2:0 Falcons	Match

Date	Matches
BLAST Open Lisbon 2025
19/03/2025	MOUZ Finished 2:0 Falcons	Match

Date	Matches
IEM Melbourne 2025
26/04/2025	MOUZ Finished 0:2 Falcons	Match

The caveat to the head-to-head record is that four of those matches were recorded when Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov was a part of Falcons. Their most-recent bout, at IEM Melbourne, saw Falcons utterly decimate MOUZ 26-9 over two maps, and was the first series MOUZ had contested against the Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov version of Falcons.

Falcons' victory in Melbourne was a serious dent to MOUZ's claim of the mantle of No. 2 team in the world, and so surely MOUZ will be keen to exact revenge here in Denmark.

Can MOUZ do it, or will Falcons outclass them again?

Falcons recently denied MOUZ a shot at the IEM Melbourne title

The second match today will see the top two teams of the year thus far, Vitality and Spirit, do battle once again.

This pair have already contested two important matches this year, first the IEM Katowice grand final, and then a BLAST Open Lisbon semi-final. Vitality got the better of things comfortably on both occasions, and will find themselves favorites heading into this matchup.

Date	Matches
IEM Katowice 2025
09/02/2025	Vitality Finished 3:0 Spirit	Match

Date	Matches
BLAST Open Lisbon 2025
29/03/2025	Vitality Finished 2:1 Spirit	Match

There is plenty on the line for both teams in this game, more than a spot in the grand final. Vitality are seeking to overtake the 2019 Liquid squad in the all-time win streak leader board, strengthening their case as one of the best teams to ever grace CS.

Spirit could break Vitality's streak, which would be a prize in and of itself, but also recover some of the ground they have lost to MOUZ and Falcons in recent times in the quest to be the second-best side in the world.

Who will come out on top?

There couldn't be a better set of semi-finals lined up for today, with the top four teams in the world on current form set to face off to decide who will be fighting for the trophy on Sunday.

Date	Matches
BLAST Rivals 2025 Season 1
03/05/2025	Falcons 16:00 MOUZ	Match
03/05/2025	Vitality 19:00 Spirit	Match

An IEM Melbourne semi-final rematch will kick off the day, with Falcons taking on MOUZ, before a rematch of the IEM Katowice final takes place between Vitality and Spirit.

Who is making it through to the grand final?