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We continue to follow the action at ESL Pro League Season 21, where the play-offs are in full swing. There are 6 teams left in the race for the $100,000 cash prize and the title of champion.
Among the contenders are Vitality and Team Liquid. They will open the play-offs with a face-to-face Bo3 match, where the winner will advance to the next round of play-offs, and the loser will lose the chance to become the champion.
Let's find out how the match between Liquid and Vitality will end at ESL Pro League Season 21 and what's in store for the EPL S21 playoffs.
Let's go.
Vitality's form
We open the breakdown of the Vitality vs Team Liquid match with an analysis of Vitality's form. In this match they play in the status of clear favourites with odds to win at around 1.3.
After the triumphant Paris Major a Vitality said goodbye to Dupreeh, and flameZ took his place. The "newcomer" Vitality has already had time to adapt and looks good: the young Israeli has KDA 1.09 and this is the third result of the team. He, by the way, started his ascent on the big stage with OG.
- Vitality roster: apEX, ZywOo, mezii, ropz, flameZ.
In their debut match at IEM Cologne 2023 Vitality only confirmed their status as one of the main favourites of Group B. OG tried, but were defeated 16-6 by Mirage and 16-13 by Anubis.
After defeating OG, Vitality took on MOUZ, who were dealt an even bigger blow by the Bees, 16-4 and 16-5.
In the match for seeding in the play-offs Vitality met another top club - G2 Esports. A nerve-wracking game where Vitality pulled out a 19-17 win on Inferno in the extra time, but then lost 10-16 to Vertigo and 8-16 to Mirage.
Starting the play-offs from the first round stumbled Cloud9. "Cloud9 tried to fight back and almost succeeded on the second map, but ZywOo and company were undeterred: 16-11 Mirage and 19-17 Inferno. However, this was the end of Vitality's stay at the tournament: they met ENCE in the semi-finals and lost with 1-2 score and dropped out of the championship.
The top 4 at IEM Cologne did not embarrass Vitality at all, on the contrary - it fuelled them. Before the end of the year they pocketed 3 more wins at title tournaments: they took revenge on ENCE in the Gamers8 Grand Final and beat FaZe twice at BLAST tournaments (Fall Final 2023 and World Final 2023).
Before playing at PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024: European RMR B played BLAST Premier: Spring Groups, where they passed the group stage without any problems and at IEM Katowice 2024, where they failed very unexpectedly, finishing top-12.
At the PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024: European RMR B Vitality stomped GamerLegion and Heroic without any problems, giving up a total of 5 rounds in two maps. And then it was worse - a loss by C9, but a win over ENCE allowed Vitality to reach the Major.
Vitality attended the first Major tournament of the season - PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024, where they managed to reach the top 4, but Ledge and FaZe Clan. Later they played at ESL Pro League Season 19, where they again started very cheerfully and easily made it to the grand finals, but there they were swept by MOUZ.
At the IEM Dallas 2024 Long Season, they started with a very difficult win over Monte, and then closed G2 Esports dry. But in the match for seeding in the play-offs quite unexpectedly Ledge and 9z Team with a score 0-2. The play-offs IEM Dallas 2024 started much more confidently, closing Heroic with 2-0. Then a confident win over Spirit, but a loss to G2 Esports in the grand finals.
Before appearing at Esports World Cup 2024, Vitality attended Blast Premier: Spring Final, where they reached the Top 4. At EWC 2024, Vitaltiy Long Sogpeg started off with a solid win over M80, which allowed them to go straight into the play-offs.
At the "Major in Riyadh" Vitality finished in the top 8, which is hardly a good result. They were quickly rehabilitated by winning the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2024. At the end of the season they visited PW Shanghai Major 2024, where they reached the main stage, but failed against FaZe in the first round.
Long Cologne 2025 season started with an appearance at BLAST Bounty Season 1, where they managed to reach the final stage, but not beyond the first round: defeat by Eternal Fire and final top 8.
At IEM Katowice 2025 Vitality started their performance right from the group stage. They defeated 3DMax and FaZe in turn, which gave them passage to the final of Group A and a slot in the play-offs. Then they defeated Vp with the score 2-0, thanks to which they got straight to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, they handled a pretty chippy MongolZ, and in the grand finals they ate Spirit, swatting the best team in the world 3-0.
At ESL Pro League Season 21, Vitality made it through the group stage with a 3-0 win.
Vitality's mappool
Vitality's best map is Nuke. There are 4 matches and 4 wins.
Anubis (7 matches, 85% wins), Mirage (4 matches, 75% wins) are very good. In general, Vitality doesn't have any bad cards that they play. Vertigo - 71% wins in 7 matches, Inferno and Overpass - 3 wins in 5 matches.
Ancient is not being played.
Team Liquid Form
We continue the analysis of Liquid vs Vitality match with the analysis of Liquid's form. In this match they are playing as an outsider with odds to win around 3.7.
The American club had a pretty productive 2023 season. Played in a lot of tournaments, but high results were rare.
They started the year with a top-4 finish at IEM Katowice 2023, where they reached the top 4. Next was the equally good BLAST Premier: Spring American Showdown with a similar top-4, and then BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: American RMR followed by a top-3 and a trip to the main tournament of the year.
Unfortunately for Liquid, that's where their results ended. At BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023, the team made it to the top 8 and that was their biggest achievement of the year.
After making it to the legends stage at the only Major tournament of the season, Liquid played at a lot of big events. These included IEM Dallas 2023 with a top-12 finish, BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023 with a top-9 finish, and IEM Master Cologne with a top-12 finish.
At the end of the season they played at Gamers8 2023, finishing in the top 16 and ESL Pro League Season 18, finishing in the top 20. Closed the year with a second place finish at BLAST Premier: Fall American Showdown 2023.
- Team Liquid roster: NAF, YEKINDAR, skullz, cadiaN, Twistzz.
A string of failures at major championships has caused major roster changes. Such that Liquid in 2024 can be called the "Dream Team", but the status still has to be earned.
2024 began with qualifiers for the American RMR. They came out, which is not surprising. They also tried to qualify for IEM Chengdu 2024, but were not successful: Ledge and M80 made it to the finals of the qualifiers. However, they got a slot and made it to the top 6 at the tournament. The main performance in the 2024 season was PW Shanghai Major 2024, where Liquid finished in the top 8, which is not bad.
In the 2025 season, Team Liquid Long Competed with a top-16 finish at BLAST Bounty Spring 2025: Closed Qualifier and a top-12 finish at IEM Katowice 2025.
At ESL Pro League Season 21 Long Co-headlined with a loss to Falcons, but came up short against FURIA and Eternal Fire. Later lost to MOUZ, which brought them to 2-2. They managed to qualify for the play-offs thanks to a win over 3DMax.
Team Liquid Mappool
Team Liquid's top 1 map for the last 3 months is Mirage. Liquid has a mind-blowing winrate of 92% with 13 games played.
They also played on Inferno, where they won 5 matches out of 7 games. Nuke is also in plus winrate, where the "ninjas" have 3 wins from 5 matches.
The most not favoured map for Team Liquid will be Vertigo. There they have 6 maps and only 1 win.
History of head-to-head meetings between Liquid and Vitality
Over the past year, the teams have played each other three times. All matches were won by Vitality.
Predicted result of the match Vitality - Liquid at ESL Pro League Season 21
In this match I bet on Vitality to win. As for me, the French will not be difficult to beat Liquid. Moreover, I am inclined to win 2-0 in favour of Vitality.
Bottom line: Vitality wins.
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