Team Vitality and MOUZ emerged victorious over the MongolZ and Team Spirit to become the grand finalists of ESL Pro League Season 21.
We are now down to the final two Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) teams at ESL Pro League Season 21. 
Team Vitality and 
MOUZ defeated 
The MongolZ and 
Team Spirit, respectively, in the tournament's semifinals on Saturday (15 March) to set up a clash in the best-of-five grand finals, where the grand prize of US$100,000 out of the US$400,000 prize pool will be at stake.
Many expected ESL Pro League Season 21's grand finals to be a rematch of the Intel Extreme Masters 2025 grand finals between Vitality and Spirit. But while Vitality defeated the MongolZ as expected, Spirit fell by a 2-1 upset to a MOUZ squad looking for their third ESL Pro League title since the series' 18th season in 2023. Interestingly enough, Season 21's grand finals will be a rematch of Season 19, where MOUZ emerged victorious over Vitality.
Here's how all the action in day three of the ESL Pro League Season 21 Playoffs went down:
Team Vitality and MOUZ advance to ESL Pro League Season 21 grand finals
2-1
Team SpiritThe day opened with MOUZ pulling off a 2-1 upset over reigning Major champions Spirit to secure their third ESL Pro League grand finals appearance since 2023.
MOUZ started the series strong in map one at Nuke, winning the first eight rounds as the T side to enter halftime with a commanding 9-3 lead. Spirit seemingly flipped the switch come the second half, as they went on a furious 8-1 run to gain their first lead of the map at 11-10. Both teams then traded the next two rounds, with Spirit getting to map point first, before MOUZ won round 24 to force overtime.
Shaking off almost choking a 9-3 lead, MOUZ trounced Spirit in overtime four rounds to two to claim the 16-14 win in Nuke. 
Adam “torzsi” Torzsás and 
Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin notably clutched out a 2v4 in the final round. The pair even topped the charts for MOUZ, with torzsi notching 26 frags and four assists on a map-best 15 deaths while Brollan had 23 frags and 10 assists against 23 deaths.
Spirit were quick to strike back in map two at Dust II and absolutely dominated the first half as the T side with a 10-2 lead. MOUZ showed signs of life by winning five of the first six rounds of the second half to get within 11-7, but Spirit locked in by winning the next two rounds to secure the 13-7 win in Dust II and force the series to a decider. 
Danil “Donk” Kryshkovets led the way for Spirit in map two with 22 frags and six assists on 11 deaths.
MOUZ shook off their loss in map two and came out swinging in game three at Ancient, winning eight of the first nine rounds as the CT side. Spirit answered with a five-round streak into the second half to trim MOUZ's lead down to two rounds. A 4-2 run by Spirit followed after, locking both sides at 10-10 with another overtime map seemingly in store for the series. However, MOUZ dashed Spirit's hopes by winning the next three rounds to claim the 13-10 win in Ancient and advance to the grand finals.
2-1
The MongolZThe second series of the day then saw Vitality continue to prove themselves as the best team in the world right now as they overcame a scrappy MongolZ squad still fresh from an upset over Natus Vincere in the previous day. While many expected Vitality's star duo of 
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and 
Robin “ropz” Kool to be the difference-makers this series, it was 
Shahar “flameZ” Shushan who ended up leading the team to victory.
Vitality entered the series with all guns blazing as they dominated the first half of map one at Anubis with nine round wins as the T side. The MongolZ only managed to win the pistol round of the second half, before a four-round streak by Vitality allowed them to claim their first win of the series with a comfortable 13-4 score. FlameZ topped the charts in Anubis with 19 frags and six assists on 12 deaths while ZywOo had 17 frags and eight assists on a match-best six deaths.
Map two at Nuke was a rollercoaster, as the MongolZ on the CT side were in full control after the first half up 8-4. However, Vitality answered with a 7-2 run after the side switch to get the lead at 11-10 after round 21. The MongolZ answered with two straight rounds to get within map point, but Vitality won round 24 to force overtime.
After Vitality managed a 2-1 outing as the CT side to kick off overtime, the MongolZ pulled off a furious three-round streak to shut down their opponents' T side stint to claim the 16-14 win in Nuke and force the match to a deciding third game. 
Sodbayar “techno4k” Munkhbold led the way for the MongolZ with 22 frags and six assists on 17 deaths, while ZywOo top-fragged with 25 on 18 deaths in the loss.
While the rollercoaster that was Nuke promised an exciting decider at Inferno, it was anything but, as Vitality simply outclassed the MongolZ to close out the series. Vitality won 10 rounds in the first half as the T side before securing their grand finals spot with three straight wins after the side switch.
FlameZ showed out with 22 frags and eight assists on six deaths, ZywOo added 12 frags and four assists on six deaths, while the rest of Vitality had nine frags apiece.
With the day's results, Spirit and the MongolZ bow out of ESL Pro League Season 21 in 3rd-4th place and will take home US$25,000 in consolation. Meanwhile, Vitality and MOUZ guarantee themselves at least US$50,000 in winnings, though they surely have their sights set on the championship and the US$100,000 grand prize.
