Vitality and FURIA proceed to IEM Chengdu 2025 Semi-Finals

Vitality and FURIA have locked in their spots in tomorrow’s IEM Chengdu 2025 Semi-Finals, after wins over Astralis and The MongolZ. In battles of international vs. national teams, the was the former who won out on the day as IEM Chengdu nears its conclusion.

Let’s take a look at how all the action played out throughout the IEM Chengdu 2025 Quarters!

Vitality survive Astralis scare to secure another Semis

It always felt as though the first match of the IEM Chengdu 2025 Playoffs had the potential to be a blowout. Vitality in strong form, Astralis having a much more mixed time of late. And after map one on Inferno, you’d be forgiven for thinking that’s what we were going to get. A 13:7 win set the tone, but Astralis were able to break back on Nuke to win in Overtime.

Wouldn’t that have been quite the upset? Vitality, favorites to win the event, were in real danger of being sent packing at the Quarter-Finals stage. But Vitality do what Vitality do, and they once again looked convincing in another 13:7 win on the decider. Another Semi-Finals locked in for Vitality, and another very real opportunity to add to their ESL Grand Slam Season 6 tally is just around the corner.

For Astralis, they’ll derive some frustration from the fact that there’s a very real world in which they won this one. They were 6:6 at the half on the Mirage decider, but a flameZ 3k in the second pistol swung the momentum in Vitality’s favor. What might have been. They can at least take some solace in their improvement at IEM Chengdu, and it will hardly come as much of a surprise that they weren’t able to topple the best team in the world at the moment.

FURIA taking convincing win over The MongolZ

FURIA vs. The MongolZ didn’t quite feel as interesting a matchup without Senzu playing for the latter. While controlez has impressed so far at IEM Chengdu 2025, you felt that a FURIA on the up-and-up should be able to see this one out and secure their Semi-Final berths convincingly. Out of the gates, that’s exactly what we saw on Mirage. KSCERATO dominated with seven multi-kill rounds across the map as FURIA romped to a 13:5 win, putting The MongolZ on the brink.

But The MongolZ did come out swinging on map two, taking a 4:0 lead from the off. Then FURIA got rolling, managing to take an 8:4 half to put the series out of reach for The MongolZ. And while the Asian team did look okay in the second half, it was nowhere near enough to stop FURIA taking a 13:10 map win, 2:0 in the series, eventually decided by a molodoy buzzer-beater with a last-second defuse.

While The MongolZ perhaps defied expectations by reaching the Playoffs in the first event post-Senzu, it’s hard to argue they stand as a real competitor for the Major later this month. Meanwhile, there’s still a chapter of FURIA’s story at IEM Chengdu 2025 to be written yet, with Falcons up next in the Semi-Finals.