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We continue to follow the action at ESL Pro League Season 21. After a long battle in the group stages, we have learned the names of the 8 teams that will compete for the $100,000 cash prize and the championship title.
Team Spirit and Eternal Fire will open the play-offs. The Spirit vs Eternal Fire match will take place on the 12th of March at 14:45 NET.
We're trying to see who of the Spirit - Eternal Fire pair will be stronger and make it to the next round of the main stage.
Let's go.
Spirit Form
Let's open the Spirit vs Eternal Fire match with an analysis of Spirit's form. In this match they play as favourites with odds to win at around 1.3.
The 2023 season has been a busy one for Spirit. The Serbian club has played wherever they can, but they have not managed to get significant results almost anywhere.
They started the previous season with an appearance at IEM Master Katowice 2023, where they finished in the top 12. Then there was the local CCT Central Europe Malta Finals 2023, where they finished in the top 6.
One of the biggest tournaments of the 2023 season for Spirit was ESL Pro League Season 17, where the Dragons finished in TOP-28. They tried to make it to the Major in Paris, but again all in vain.
From the middle and up to the end of the year Spirit played at local events of small calibre. And they were quite successful, it is worth mentioning: TOP-1 at CCT North Europe Series #6, TOP-2 at CCT Online Finals #2, victory at Dunav Party LAN and Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #2.
- Team Spirit roster: chopper, zont1x, sh1ro, donk, magixx
At the end of the year they won the BB Dacha. In 2024, BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2024 was the first major event for the Dragons. Spirit played frankly poorly there: they finished in the top 16 at their debut BLAST Championship, advancing to the Spring Showdown.
At IEM Katowice 2024 Spirit started their performance at the Play-In stage. There they beat Apeks 13-0 without a chance, and then confidently (except for 2 maps) beat MongolZ 2-0, thus qualifying for the group stage. The group stage was not a problem for Spirit either: after giving up only 1 map to NaVi, they easily made it to the play-offs by beating CoL and FaZe Clan 2-0. The IEM Katowice 2024 play-offs confirmed Spirit's dominance, as they easily shut down Falcons (2-0) and it was even easier against FaZe in the grand finals (3-0).
After the triumph at Katowice 2024, Spirit went to PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024, where they managed to reach the play-offs, but Ledge and FaZe Clan in the first round of the main stage. Spirit took the top 8.
Spirit had a kind of successful performance at BB Dacha, but a 0-3 loss to MOUZ in the grand finals spoilt the feeling a bit.
At IEM Dallas 2024 Team Spirit had a very easy time in the group stage, not giving up a single map in the B basket. However, they didn't manage to beat everyone in the play-offs: Vitality intervened at the TOP-4 stage and knocked Spirit out of the tournament.
Later Spirit won the BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2024. And then came a string of poor performances, including Top 8 and Top 16 at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2024.
ESL Pro League Season 20 Team Spirit started with Group B, where they defeated Ledge and MIBR in the second round of the upper grid and after dropping below, they had no trouble beating The MongolZ and 3DMAX, which allowed them to advance to the play-offs, where they beat FURIA 2-0 in their first match. Later they ran into NaVi, after their defeat they finished the pro league.
Spirit played at BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024, where they did not find success either. They only finished in the top 6.
At BLAST Premier: World Final 2024 Spirit started their journey from Group B, where they fought against G2 Esports, Team Spirit, Vitality and Liquid. They went 1-1, beating Vitality but losing to G2 in the playoffs seeding match. In the play-offs itself, Spirit made it directly to the grand finals, but there they were defeated 0-3 by Ledge and G2 Esports.
Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B Long They started with a win over B8. Then they lost to Passion UA, beat Aurora, lost to G2, but in the last match they beat Sashi Esports. At the Elimination Stage Spirit Long Sogpegos started with a loss to FURIA, but then defeated Wildcard and NaVi. Then in a match to advance to the full bo3, they handled Heroic. Spirit opened the play-offs of PW Shanghai Major 2024 with a win over Liquid. In the semi-finals of Shanghai Major 2024 they defeated MOUZ. In the grand finals they defeated FaZe, thus becoming world champions for the first time in the club's history.
BLAST Bounty Season 1 Long They started the qualifying round with two confident victories against Fnatic and FlyQuest. In the play-offs they also beat Heroic without any problems. Next - the expected victory against NaVi and triumph in the grand finals against Eternal Fire.
IEM Katowice 2025 Spirit started with the first round of Group B. There they demolished Astralis without much trouble, giving up a total of 9 rounds. In the match for the play-offs they played against NaVi, where they lost 1-2 in a protracted Bo3 with extra rounds on the third map Nuke. Having got to the bottom net they beat Liquid and GamerLegion, which allowed them to enter the play-offs. In the main stage they defeated Vp and NaVi in turn, making it to the grand finals, but in the match for the title they were unable to oppose Vitality: 0-3 and TOP-2.
The group stage of ESL Pro League Season 21 Spirit went as expected: 3-0.
Team Spirit Mapple
The best map of Team Spirit remains Vertigo, the Brazilians played there 5 times and won in 3 maps. Next is Mirage, with 7 games and 4-3 statistics.
The neutral choice for Team Spirit will be Nuke and Ancient. The Brazilians have 6 maps and 3-3 score on each.
The worst is Overpass (2-3) and Inferno (1-2).
Eternal Fire Formation
Let's open the Eternal Fire vs Team Spirit match with an analysis of Eternal Fire's form. In this match they are playing as Underpassdogs with odds to win at around 3.6.
Eternal Fire started actively making their way to the title tournaments since the 2023 season. Then the team won ESL Pro League Season 17: European Conference, thus securing a place in the EPL S17. The Main Event ended miserably - only top 20 and not out of the group.
Participated in BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B. There they took TOP-14, which was not enough to reach the only Major of the season.
In the middle of the year, Eternal Fire showed their best form. The Turks finished in the top 4 twice, but did so at TIR-B tournaments. They broke into the top four at CCT North Europe Series #7 and Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1.
- Eternal Fire roster: XANTARES, jottAAA, MAJ3R, Wicadia, woxic.
Before the ESL Pro League Season 8 Long Round, MAJ3R's team played on CCT Central Europe and Pinnacle Cup V. Both championships ended for them on top 8.
Eternal Fire played their debut match at ESL Pro League Season 18 against Cloud9. They played as the number two and got a natural result: 0-2, but with 11 and 12 rounds respectively.
In the first match of the lower grid Eternal Fire played against 9INE. The Turks were clearly on form, as they managed to run over a pretty tough competitor without much difficulty. The match ended with a score of 2-0 in favour of Eternal Fire. As a result, the ESL Pro League Season 18 run ended very well: the team barely qualified for the play-offs of the tournament, where they managed to win two series. EF left Astralis and BIG behind, but Ledge and Natus Vincere.
EF later made the Top 16 at Roobet Cup 2023, where they finished Top 16 and Top 2 at PARI, Please. In 2024, Eternal Fire attended PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European Qualifier B, where they finished in the Top 2, advancing to European RMR A.
IEM Katowice 2024 started with the Play-In stage. By the way, they passed it very easily: 13-1 against BB Team and 2-0 against Rebels Gaming allowed them to get into the group stage. In the first match of the group stage they also easily defeated Falcons (13-9; 13-6), and then showed a very cheerful CS in the match against the top-2 team of the world FaZe Clan, but Ledge were defeated on three maps (1-2). At the end of IEM Katowice 2024 Eternal Fire took the top 12, and then started to play at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European RMR A.
At the qualifying tournament, the Turks finished in the top 8, which gave them the opportunity to qualify for PGL CS 2 Major Copenhagen 2024, which is true in the first stage.
At PGL CS 2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Eternal Fire are feeling very good so far. The Turks have 2 wins and 1 loss: they beat Mongolz and Pain, but lost to Heroic 0-2 in the match for the next stage. However, they succeeded in their next attempt: they defeated GL with a score of 2-1.
Eternal Fire debuted in the legends stage with a surprise win against Vitality. However, in the second round they lost to MOUZ, which brought them to 1-1 score. And then there was a real sensation: 13-1 against FaZe Clan and 2-1 score for the Turks.
Eternal Fire got into the play-offs of the tournament after the victory over Vp. The match ended with the score 2-1. However, they failed to move beyond the first round, as NaVi were stronger than the Turks and closed the series with a score of 2-0.
They also attended ESL Pro League Season 19, where they failed, and quite seriously. The Turkish team took TOP-21-28. Then diametrically opposite situation at CCT Season 1: Global Finals and then - not leaving the group at YaLLa Compas 2024.
Eternal Fire got to IEM Cologne 2024 thanks to the ESL world ranking, but there they took the top 20, without having time to show anything. Then there were equally failed tournaments like IEM Rio 2024, with TOP-12 and failure at Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B with TOP-14.
The 2025 Long Season was followed by qualifiers at BLAST Bounty Season 1. There EF beat ENCE and Falcons. At the final stage of BLAST Bounty Season 1 Eternal Fire beat Vitality. They went on to defeat G2 Esports and advance to the grand finals, but lost to Spirit 1-3.
Eternal Fire played at IEM Katowice 2025. The Turkish club managed to make it to the play-offs, but failed to defeat MongolZ in the first round.
They also played at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, where they finished in the top 8, which is not a good result, but not a nightmare either.
Eternal Fire started ESL Pro League Season 21 with an appearance in the first round of the group stage: there the Turkish club played 3-1. Once in the "real" group stage Eternal Fire beat MIBR, but lost to 3DMax and Liquid. In the match for life they defeated paiN. They managed to get through to the play-offs after beating Falcons in the basket 2-2.
Eternal Fire mappool
The best map is Nuke. There are 4 matches and 4 wins.
Anubis (7 matches, 85% wins), Mirage (4 matches, 75% wins) are doing very well. Vertigo - 71% wins in 7 matches, Inferno and Overpass - 3 wins in 5 matches.
History of head-to-head meetings between Spirit and Eternal Fire
This will be the 3rd game between the teams for the year. Spirit have won twice before.
Predicted result of Spirit vs Eternal Fire at ESL Pro League Season 21
In this match I expect Spirit to win unconditionally. Eternal Fire look good, but they are still far away from Spirit's level.
Bottom line: Spirit wins with a score of 2-0.
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