Team Vitality had built perhaps one of the biggest dynasties in the history of Counter-Strike in the first half of 2025, but it all came crumbling down at IEM Cologne 2025 where the kings of Counter-Strike started to look human again, falling to MOUZ in the semi-finals. Next up on the ESL Pro Tour was ESL Pro league Season 22. With everyone having seen the bees' wings clipped, confidence grew and their woes continued as Gentle Mates, the newest pride of Spain opened up stage 2 with a confident 2-0 over Vitality leaving the French-lead outfit with no option than to be flawless from now on.
They were.
For the next 3 games in Stage 2 they went from 0-1 to 3-1, not dropping a map in the process, leading them to a Quarter-Final matchup with FURIA. It wasn't all plain sailing in the playoffs as both FURIA & FaZe struck first against Vitality, leaving them in situations where they'd have to win 2 maps in a row in order to keep their tournament hopes alive.
They did.
The cracks seemed to close as Vitality entered the server on Grand Final day, giving us a taste of their form from earlier in the year as they took down Team Falcons 3-0 to take an ESL Pro League DOUBLE in 2025, not to mention ZywOo's FOURTH ESL Pro Tour DHL MVP of the year, all but cementing himself as a top contender for the best player of the year.
ESL Pro League Season 21 saw the introduction of the Swiss Tournament Format along with Team Selected Seeding & Live Ratings. Team Vitality got off to a racing start as they advanced 3-0 from stage 2 to make it to the playoffs, taking down MIBR 2-1 & sweeping 3DMAX & 3 time champions MOUZ in dominant fashion. The dominance didn't seem to stop as they opened up the playoffs with a 2-0 over Team Liquid before laying waste to The Mongolz 2-1, only giving away managed 6 rounds total in the maps they won.
Their toughest challenge would be facing MOUZ again in the Grand Final. MOUZ as an organization had NEVER LOST an ESL Pro League Grand Final on LAN. In fact, they had never even lost a map in an ESL Pro League Grand Final on LAN. Vitality's 13-9 over MOUZ was the first map loss the German organization had faced in an ESL Pro League Grand Final on LAN. And it didn't stop there. Vitality only let their opponents grab 9 more rounds before they lifted the Season 21 trophy in Stockholm. It was ZywOo who set poetry in motion for the duration of the event, dropping a 1.44 rating over 15 maps as he hoisted the ESL Pro Tour DHL MVP trophy over the likes of donk & m0nesy. His second best performance at a big event in 2025.
Starting their journey in Group A, NAVI had no issues closing down the likes of Lynn Vision and NIP, qualifying directly to the quarterfinals. Team Spirit, with the young prodigy 'donk' - the highest-rated player before the start of the playoffs, were meant to be NAVI's first real challenge. However, struggling to find their form, the dragons could not provide much resistance, leading NAVI to face G2 in the semifinals. Being on a run of their own, NiKo and the squad were looking to grab their 3rd EPT trophy in the Intel Grand Slam derby, and with the fresh additions of malbsMd and snax, they wanted to deliver results. However, despite the series going all 3 maps, NAVI came out much stronger on the final map of Ancient and secured their 5th Grand Final in a row. On the opposite side of the bracket it was... Eternal Fire! Yes, the Turks demonstrated incredible CS, and after defeating Vitality, the 2024 IEM Cologne champions, in triple overtime on a 3rd map, Eternal Fire were able to make it all the way and were ready to face NAVI. For NAVI, though, Eternal Fire did not seem like a scary opponent, especially given that NAVI beat them in the Group Stage in a 2-0 fashion. The expectations for the Grand Final were modest... but oh boy, it delivered! Going all 5 maps, it was the flash of Alexib and the triple kill of jL that decided the outcome of such a hard-fought battle. Leaving Eternal Fire moments away from living their dream, NAVI became the champions of ESL Pro League Season 20, breaking the curse of Alexib's BO5 loss streak and earning jL another MVP in 2024 to celebrate his highest-rated event in CS ever.
Starting with a confident 4-match win streak in the group stage, MOUZ secured themselves a spot in the playoffs without dropping a single map. Moving into the quarterfinals, they then faced G2, followed by Complexity in semi-finals. While both matches ended in a closer 2-1 fashion, the wins for MOUZ seemed dominant, and the toughest opposition seemed to lay ahead. The second Grand Finalists, Team Vitality, were also coming in hot, with ZywOo looking to post the best ever S-tier event rating in Counter-Strike history. Yet it was not meant to be. For the second time in a row MOUZ have strolled through the Grand Final, ending the match in just 3 maps. MOUZ as a team have shown incredibly strong performance and as organisation became the first-ever to lift ESL Pro League trophy 3 times. ZywOo became the Most Valuable Player (MVP) while losing the tournament for the 7th time in his career.
Beginning their run with a defeat against MIBR and almost falling short on the first map against Evil Geniuses, MOUZ were on their way to getting stronger with the victories that followed. Beginning the playoffs in the round of 16, they went from defeating FURIA and FaZe Clan in a dominant 2-0 fashion to overcoming G2 and ENCE, and finally establishing dominance against NAVI in a 3-0 grand final. The EPL Season 18 trophy marked the first S-tier victory for 4 out of 5 players on MOUZ, including the young prodigy from Finland - Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo, who just turned 17 as the tournament went on.
The journey of FaZe Clan in Season 17 began with two confident victories. However, it was not all smooth sailing as Vitality etched out a win for a spot in the quarterfinals, sending FaZe to begin their playoff run in the round of 12. There, FaZe managed to beat FURIA, Heroic, and NAVI in close series to finally face Cloud9 in the BO5 grand final. In the end, after dropping only one map, FaZe became the Champions of EPL Season 17, with ropz claiming his third MVP at EPL, also marking the third MVP of his career!
Vitality were crowned Season 16 Champions after a flawless Group Stage run which set for a remarkable playoff run, only challenged by Team Liquid in the Grand Final, where Zyw0o set out historic numbers to clinch MVP.
FaZe Clan came out triumphant at the ESL Pro League Season 15, consistently performing to the highest level and beating numerous tournament surprises and favorites along the way. With a rocky set of initial matches of group-stage, FaZe Clan returned in impressive fashion finishing out the groups with 3 straight wins and continuing to do so throughout the playoffs taking home EPL Season 15 title.
Season 14 of ESL Pro League crowned the Intel Grand Slam III winner as Natus Vincere took down Team Vitality in a 5 map final, which saw Natus Vincere secure the $1,000,000 award and secure their name in history as the third team to win the achievement.
Season 13 will remain unforgotten with Heroic being able to stop the CIS revolution led by Gambit.
Both teams being unbeaten in the Play-In stage and the main tournament, facing each other in the Grand Final. It's 2-2 and the final map is running, when CadiaN ends the game with the play of his career.
ESL Pro League season 12 crowned 5 regional Champions in Astralis, Furia Esports, BOOM Esports, Renegades and TYLOO. All teams battled in their respective regions and took down the toughest teams in their to claim their spot as ESL Pro League Season 12 champions.
Fnatic and Team Liquid were triumphant in their regions during the ESL Pro League Season 11. Fnatic battled their way through the European competition to meet their previous ESL Pro League season 10 Finalists mousesports in the Grand Final, where they got the revenge victory in a 5 match thriller and claimed the European Season 11 title. Team Liquid remained in North America where they performed at the top of their game throughout the tournament. They only dropped one map throughout the whole tournament defeated Evil Geniuses 3-0 in the North American Grand Final.
Mousesports surprised thousands around the world as star player Finn “karrigan” Andersen led his squad to a compelling victory at Odense’s Jyske Bank Arena in his native Denmark. Evil Geniuses, Astralis and Fnatic stood in their path to glory in the playoffs, but proved no match for the determined mouz roster.
Team Liquid surfaced as victorious in Montpellier, Occitanie where the North American squad lifted the ESL Pro League Season 9 trophy. Defeating the French favorites G2 Esports 3:1 saw Team Liquid surge towards their third premier trident-trophy win within 2019.
Danish fans saluted Astralis where the world's No. 1 squad maintained consistency claiming the 8th Season title of the ESL Pro League with a 3:1 victory over Team Liquid. With support from the Danish crowd in Odense, the Arena authenticated back-to-back ESL Pro League championships for Astralis.
The ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals took place in Dallas, USA where Astralis conquered the competition lifting the trophy, title and earning a large portion of $750,000 USD. Little did Astralis know that this wouldn't be the last time they won in a 3:1 victory over Team Liquid.
Accomplished Brazilian sensations SK Gaming flexed on the competition emerging as the ESL Pro League Season 6 champions from an intense 3:1 victory over FaZe Clan. The victory in Odense, Denmark saw the Brazilian core add a second ESL Pro League title to their rapidly filling trophy cabinet.
G2 Esports returned to form sailing the tricolour of blue, white and red as the renowned roster of the French won the ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals with a 3:1 victory over North. Earning the lion’s share of $750,000 USD, the victory in Dallas was the second of three titles the French claimed within 2017.
The US flag swooped proudly in the wind as Cloud9 acquired their first and only ESL Pro League title after a 2:1 grand final victory over SK Gaming. On Brazilian turf, Sao Paulo housed 12 of the most dangerous teams from Europe and North America for Season 4 of the ESL Pro League Finals in 2016.
The ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals saw the Bold Brazilians Luminosity Gaming earn their first ESL Pro League title in our marquee studios during mid 2016. Bolstering their impact on the professional scene, the Brazilians went on to cement themselves as the No. 1 team in the world with their fairytale storyline after defeating G2 Esports 3:2 in a thrilling grand final.
Swedish sensations FNATIC ushered in their second ESL Pro League championship in Season 2 on the colorful shores of California, where they won over Natus Vincere in a 3:2 final. The ESL Pro League Season 2 Finals exhibited the best four teams from the European and North American regions in December of 2015.
Our old school ESL Studio saw FNATIC hoist the Swedish flag at the inaugural ESL Pro League Finals held in Cologne, Germany. The first season of the ESL Pro League Finals witnessed four elite teams from both Europe and North America compete over four days and concluded with FNATIC subduing a vintage Cloud9 roster in a 3:1 to lift the trophy.
