Both matches ended in a 2-0 sweep with the two maps in each series having the same scorelines.
Day two of the Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) ESL Pro League Season 21 Playoffs on Friday (14 March) saw the competition whittled down to just four teams as Team Vitality and
The MongolZ defeat
Team Liquid and
Natus Vincere (NAVI), respectively, to round out the tournament's slate of semifinalists.
In stark contrast to the first day of the Playoffs, where both quarterfinal matches went the distance, day two's bouts were both one-sided 2-0 sweeps. Here's how all the action in day two of the ESL Pro League Season 21 Playoffs went down:
Vitality, MongolZ round out semifinalist slate at ESL Pro League Season 21
The day opened with Intel Extreme Masters 2025 champions Vitality sweeping Liquid out of the tournament in back-to-back 13-9 maps behind a stellar showing from Robin “ropz” Kool, who has now firmly solidified his place as the team's second star alongside
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut.
Vitality entered the series with all guns blazing in map one at Anubis, where they won the six of the first seven rounds as the T side. However, a 4-1 run by Liquid to close out the half allowed them to trim their opponents' lead down to a manageable two rounds. While Vitality won the second half's pistol round, Liquid scored three straight rounds to tie things up at 8-8 and threaten a comeback. But Vitality were quick to shut things down with a 4-1 run to close out their first win of the series.
Ropz led the way for Vitality in Anubis with 22 frags and three assists on 12 deaths while ZywOo and Shahar “flameZ” Shushan each scored 18 frags and six assists against 13 and 12 deaths respectively.
Map two at Dust II followed a similar script to that of Anubis, as Vitality on the T side enjoying another strong start before Liquid rallied to end the half with the former team up two rounds. Vitality continued rolling in the second half by winning four of the first five rounds to extend their lead to 11-7. However, Liquid rallied with three straight before Vitality locked in to close out the series by round 22.
Vitality's superstar pair showed out to secure the 2-0 series sweep, with ropz topping the charts with 24 frags and an assist on 13 deaths while ZywOo added 20 frags and eight assists on 11 deaths.
The second series of the day then saw Asia's rising power in the MongolZ score their biggest LAN series win yet as they took down NAVI in two maps that, just like the Vitality-Liquid matchup, ended with the same scoreline at 13-6.
The series opened in Mirage, where NAVI on the T side started strong by winning the first four rounds. However, a fiery 7-1 run by the MongolZ behind Sodbayar “techno4k” Munkhbold gave the Mongolians a two-round cushion heading into the side switch. While NAVI won the opening round of the second half, the MongolZ went on another hot streak of six straight rounds to comfortably claim their first map of the series. Techno4k led the way for the MongolZ in Mirage with 22 frags and four assists on a server-best eight deaths.
Map two at Ancient was another blowout, this time with Ayush “Mzinho” Batbold being the star of the show. The MongolZ were firing on all cylinders from the start as the T side and zoomed ahead to a commanding 9-3 lead by halftime. The Mongolian squad then won the first two rounds of the second half to get up to 10-3 before some heroics from
Igor “w0nderful” Zhdanov allowed NAVI to show signs of life with three straight rounds.
After that, the MongolZ simply brushed aside NAVI's desperate attempts to mount a comeback and closed out the 2-0 series sweep after 19 rounds of action. Mzinho showed out in the closeout game with 23 frags and 11 assists on 10 deaths while Munkhbold “Senzu” Azbayar added 15 frags and four assists on eight deaths.
With the day's results, Vitality and the MongolZ advanced to the ESL Pro League Season 21 semifinals, securing at least a 3rd-4th place finish and US$25,000 in winnings. Meanwhile, Liquid and NAVI bow out in 5th-8th place and will each take home US$18,000 in consolation.
The third day of the ESL Pro League Season 21 Playoffs will feature the semifinals, starting with Team Spirit taking on
MOUZ before Vitality face off against the MongolZ. The two winning teams will advance to the grand finals on Monday (17 March), where the grand prize of US$100,000 will be up for grabs.