IEM Katowice Grand Final Recap
Well, after just one tournament, it seems like Spirit’s reign of terror has come to an end.
Honestly, we didn’t have that one on the cards.
We say we, AN1MO did, he correctly predicted Vitality would win IEM Katowice on this week’s episode of Overtime on Inferno. And he’s definitely not the one writing this piece just so he can gloat about it.
Definitely not.
The final was pretty good, too. Even if the scorelines might suggest otherwise. A masterclass from Vitality on the first two maps, ZywOo finally got over his issues with air quality, and Spirit almost made Vitality sweat on map three.
Note that we said almost, Spirit’s comeback was mounted on the CT side, and the economy made sure that the game had 13-11 written all over it as soon as the comeback begin. Unless donk did donk things, of course. Which he couldn’t.
Vitality did everything they had to do in order to win, and by that we mean they kept donk quiet. As ropz and ZywOo both had maps with 2+ HLTV ratings, donk was restricted to his best showing being a - by his standards - measly 1.27, and just 0.88 across the three maps played.
Of course, that didn’t stop him from having some big plays, but we’re not sure anything could stop that.
Well, maybe nine pandas could. If you know you know.
In truth, we think that this final had the best possible outcome. If we’re not getting a full BO5, then a BO5 final better be done in three maps. Especially three entertaining maps like these were.
But more importantly, Vitality also showed that Spirit are in fact mortal. We were beginning to worry they may have created some horcruxes in Shanghai, but that’s evidently not the case.
Seeing Spirit lose is reassuring, true dominance is never fun, and with Vitality grabbing the first real trophy of the year, 2025 has just been blown wide open.
Final standings:
1st 🇪🇺 Vitality – $460.000
2nd 🇷🇺 Spirit – $216.000
3-4th 🇪🇺 NAVI – $108.000
3-4th 🇲🇳 The MongolZ – $108.000
5-6th 🇷🇺 Virtus.pro – $61.000
5-6th 🇹🇷 Eternal Fire – $61.000
7-8th 🇪🇺 GamerLegion – $38.000
7-8th 🇪🇺 FaZe – $38.000