ZywOo Powers Vitality Past MOUZ to Win ESL Pro League Season 24

Vitality are the champions of ESL Pro League Season 24. They swept MOUZ 3-0 in the best-of-five grand final on October 11, with Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut posting a 1.65 rating and collecting the 34th MVP medal of his career.

The win is Vitality's second trophy in a row, following their StarSeries Fall victory earlier in September. It also comes at a useful moment. Dan "apEX" Madesclaire is set to step away for PGL Masters Bucharest because of the birth of his child, so Vitality head into that event with a title in hand.

A slow start, then a Cache takeover

MOUZ made the early running on Cache. Proactive CT-side plays gave them a 5-1 lead and shut down everything Vitality tried in the opening rounds. apEX and his teammates responded with six consecutive rounds to win the half, and ZywOo kept the pressure on once Vitality switched to the CT side. He finished the map with 21 kills, a 2.00 rating and 107 ADR in a 13-7 win.

Inferno followed a similar pattern. Shahar "flameZ" Shushan and apEX locked down Banana, building the platform for a 9-3 half. Vitality also won a second-round force-buy on offense. MOUZ made the scoreline more respectable in the second half, but Vitality were never seriously threatened in the 13-8 win.

Dust2 offered the only real resistance

Dust2 was the only map to go beyond 13 rounds. MOUZ started it well, but Vitality's persistent B hits eventually wore them down. Every player had a moment, including a 3k from William "mezii" Merriman that opened the B site with seconds on the clock. Vitality went into the halftime switch ahead.

Dorian "xertioN" Berman then took over for MOUZ, and his multi-kills helped his team reach three map points. That came even though Adrian "xelex" Vincze was almost non-existent on the map. Vitality leaned on their experience to force overtime, and MOUZ came apart. They failed to win any of their three T-side rounds in the first half of the extra period, then went out with a limp A defense. Vitality took the map 16-12.

How the numbers split

ZywOo led the final in every major category: 64-33 in kills and deaths, a +6.05% swing, 90.3 ADR and 82.6% KAST. flameZ (1.30) and Robin "ropz" Kool (1.22) supported him, while mezii (0.99) and apEX (0.94) finished just under 1.00.

For MOUZ, xertioN (1.00), Oldřich "PR" Nový (1.00) and Lotan "Spinx" Giladi (0.96) kept pace without producing the numbers to change the series. Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás (0.65) and xelex (0.58) fell well short. xelex's -5.49% swing was the lowest of either team.

MVP No. 34

HLTV named ZywOo the event MVP, his 34th career medal and sixth of 2026. He averaged a tournament-high 1.43 rating and topped the board in all three of Vitality's playoff matches: 1.66 against PARIVISION, 1.44 against Aurora and 1.65 against MOUZ. He also led the event in kills per round (0.86) and round swing (+4.33%), and placed second in damage per round (85.0) and KAST (79.2%).

ZywOo pointed to the team's collective form rather than his own. "When you have ropz and flameZ playing good, it makes everyone play good as well, also for me," he told HLTV. With three players above a 1.25 or 1.30 rating, he said, "everyone kind of deserves the MVP for these playoffs."

On Cache, where he averaged a 2.03 rating over the tournament, he was more personal:

He also said the win ended what he called the "Katowice curse," following six years of quarter-finals at the event. "It feels good to win in the Spodek Arena," he said.

On the map pool, ZywOo said Vitality were "a bit disappointed" when Overpass was removed because it was one of their best maps. He called the pool otherwise "pretty constant," though he said Anubis "really can be better."

What comes next: Bucharest without apEX

The immediate question is how Vitality adapt at PGL Masters Bucharest, where apEX will be absent. ZywOo said jL will play in his place, as he did at Porto, and that the team's approach stays the same.

"It doesn't matter if he's there or not," he said. "We're going to try to win the tournament." He added that mezii may try to take on the in-game leader role and that the team would "try to talk more" without apEX.

For apEX, the trophy came with a joke about the timing. "Thanks to my partner and my baby that it didn't happen too early," he said. "I could win another trophy at least."