The stage was set for a thrilling matchup between Legacy and Vitality, the current top team in the Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) world. Vitality had been on a hot streak, winning five consecutive tournaments and completing the ESL Grand Slam – a feat only four other teams, including NaVi, Liquid, Astralis, and FaZe, had achieved.
This high-stakes battle took place during the first round of the IEM Dallas 2025, a Tier S tournament that precedes the BLAST.tv Austin Major, the CS2 World Championship. Although Legacy didn’t secure a spot in the Major after losing to BESTIA in the South American finals, they saw the Dallas competition as an opportunity to fight for a spot in the next one.
Both Legacy and Vitality are part of Group A, where the format demands two wins in best-of-three series to advance to the playoffs, and two losses mean elimination. The pressure was on, and the crowd was eager to see how these two teams would clash.
In the first map, Inferno, Vitality dominated with a crushing 13-5 win. The second map saw a more balanced game, with the Europeans taking the lead in the first half, but Legacy fought back to tie 11-11. However, Vitality’s experience paid off in the decisive rounds, securing a 2-0 win in the series.
Legacy now faces 3DMAX in a do-or-die match at 12:30 PM (Brasília time) on Tuesday, May 20. Can they bounce back and stay in the running, or will their journey come to an end? The IEM Dallas 2025 has just begun, and the stakes are higher than ever.