IEM Chengdu 2025Vitality strike back in MOUZ rivalry to secure IEM Chengdu grand final spot
One of the biggest rivalries of the year has once again turned up an instant classic of a game, with Vitality thriving in the chaos this time around.
Vitality became the first grand finalist of IEM Chengdu after a slobberknocker of a series against MOUZ, where they came back from 4-12 down on Nuke to start and survived a chaotic finish to the Inferno decider.
They await the winner of the second semi-final between Falcons and FURIA to see who their opponent for the title decider will be on championship Sunday.
| Date | Matches | |
|---|---|---|
| IEM Chengdu 2025 | ||
| 09/11/2025 |
09:00
|
Match |
With the win, Vitality took their revenge for their previous encounter against MOUZ in the group stage of the Chinese tournament, in what was another edition of one of the biggest rivalries of 2025.
They had met on 10 occasions this year alone, and while the first half of the year was all Vitality, they've found MOUZ to be a much more difficult opponent in the second, having also lost their streak to them in the IEM Cologne semi-finals.
"We worked a lot to beat them, to get revenge for the group stage, and now this means that their win in the group stage is quite nothing," Shahar "flameZ" Shushan said after the match. "It makes us happy."
A Nuke comeback for the ages
It all began with massive MOUZ choke on Nuke, where they failed to capitalize on catching Vitality sleeping. Eight opportunities to close the map on the T side from 12-4 were not enough, as Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut finally woke up to lead the extraordinary comeback.
After starting out slow, the French superstar ended up on 30 kills for the opener with two huge quad-kills at the end of regulation and beginning of overtime helping Vitality go on an 11-round run of success, with Dan "apEX" Madesclaire in tow.
MOUZ responded with a recovery of their own on Train. At halftime when down 4-8, Ludvig "Brollan" Brolin pepped up his team saying their CT side is "the best in the world," and he was only proven right 12 rounds later when MOUZ put together a stellar defense, not letting Vitality catch any momentum.
It all came down to a phenomenal Inferno decider, where the familiarity between the two teams was laid bare as they traded blows with gimmick moves left and right.
It looked inseparable until Dorian "xertioN" Berman's superb Banana play led to a four-round run late in the second half and put Vitality's economy on the brink.
But apEX and company persevered to recover from the breaking point, calling out MOUZ with the perfect stack and bait-and-switch setup in round 20, followed by a ZywOo collateral a couple of rounds later.
More highlights from Vitality vs. MOUZ
 MOUZ |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 - 54 | -0.85% | 81.7 | 67.1% | 1.02 | |
| 51 - 48 | -0.21% | 72.2 | 71.1% | 1.01 | |
| 46 - 54 | -0.93% | 69.7 | 69.7% | 0.95 | |
| 48 - 44 | -0.66% | 59.1 | 72.4% | 0.93 | |
| 44 - 53 | -2.90% | 63.9 | 68.4% | 0.83 |
  Vitality |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 59 - 40 | +4.08% | 77.4 | 80.3% | 1.40 | |
| 63 - 46 | +4.50% | 87.1 | 76.3% | 1.39 | |
| 56 - 51 | +1.33% | 76.8 | 69.7% | 1.21 | |
| 43 - 52 | -0.51% | 71.2 | 61.8% | 1.00 | |
| 31 - 54 | -3.94% | 52.9 | 67.1% | 0.73 |
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski
asyl1m
| 
| 
tIdr
w0fie
iejesus
| 
kilda_choose
aLight
zephyrus1809
| 
laughingatmadbettors
McSwell
| 
Niko_No_Major
| 
shushy
| 
| 
| 
SilverQuick
| 
1v9_In_Any_Team
!xobilee
strankas
