By the numbers: FURIA vs Spirit, Vitality vs MOUZ - IEM Kraków 2026

This is a tale of two semi-finals: the first, a nail-biting back and forth affair between two blisteringly hot teams with a budding rivalry to develop; the second, Vitality beating MOUZ again.

The colour red is widely known to symbolise danger. When teams in the top five see MOUZ, they don't see danger. They see a red carpet, never failing to lay down flat while their opponents waltz straight over them into a final.

At least the Spirit/FURIA match was fun. Let's start there, courtesy of Duel Swing.

By his standards, donk got off to a remarkably cold start on Mirage, while FalleN and molodoy completely stole the show. The professor and his prodigy aim star were a sight to behold as they closed out a 2v5, powering FURIA into a 6-2 lead. This map really went down to the wire, with Spirit manifesting force buy wins out of sheer spite and having to mount a mini-comeback to force overtime after a 10-12 defecit. zont1x and tN1R both seem to struggle in their positions on this map, with zont1x playing the short rotator on CT and tN1R anchoring A. It seems like a waste of both players' skill sets, as despite heroics from donk and sh1ro, there were never any breaks on the molodoy train, and FURIA rode full steam ahead into Dust2 with a win on their map pick.

The second map was a little less remarkable; some critical fumbles from yuurih cost them the B site time after time, with molodoy unable to find much impact on the CT side. KSCERATO had an average performance, but not enough to keep his team in with a chance. Spirit's calling looked very shaky throughout Dust2, with magixx showing some early teething pains on the big stage as an IGL. Despite some poorly-coordinated retake attempts and quite a few mistimed plays, Spirit were able to simply shoot harder when it counted, and zont1x really showed his value as a solo-site anchor.

Nuke was a slightly anti-climatic ending to an otherwise captivating series. Despite what the score suggests, FURIA looked like they were the better team by a wide margin, as molodoy picked up where he left off on Mirage. YEKINDAR found his footing for the first time in the series as the spacetaker Outside, playing a major role in shutting down his aggressive counter-part, donk. Meanwhile, FalleN and molodoy were straight back on their fairytale nonsense, remaining deadly in every clutch situation. They fittingly closed out the series with an M4A1-S 4k from the Brazilian captain, leaving magixx and co. with some soul-searching to do before the Cologne Major.

FURIA's Duel Swing

Spirit's Duel Swing

The other semi-final was not so close, and not so interesting, so we're going to cut the fluff and talk about what's really exciting. ZywOo and ropz absolutely battered MOUZ, and the best duo of 2025 are eyeing up this prestige trophy like rabid dogs. Based on how easily they dispatched of Brollan's side, this final should be a thing of beauty.

With only Jimpphat shooting back, this was another tour de force for the French.

This tournament has been defined by its unique array of duos. ZywOo and ropz, donk and sh1ro, molodoy and KSCERATO FalleN, even s1mple and electronic made a splash early on. MOUZ seem to buck this trend, doing it by committee instead of siphoning resources into a couple of superstars. They win as a team (group stages), they lose as a team (semi-finals). This series was no exception, and though pockets of impact existed for torszi, without a consistent figurehead to provide a life raft, they continue to drown under the big lights.

MOUZ's Duel Swing

Vitality's Duel Swing

We've seen FURIA and Vitality go head to head in a grand final before, and we hope to see it many times again. Absolute cinema.