The Recap - 2025 EP05

Welcome to The Recap, the content series covering Counter-Strike in the ANZ region with a touch of global action here and there. The Recap covers our region, from ESEA Open, ECL, and global events, to local LAN and online tournaments hosted here at home.

PGL Cluj-NapocaThe MongolZ Main Stage Meltdown

The MongolZ have been eliminated from PGL Cluj-Napoca after a 2-0 defeat from Astralis. They went in as favourites against the faltering Danish outfit who just came back from a crushing loss against HEROIC.

The MongolZ have won only one arena game in the last three tournaments where they made the playoffs; a 2-0 victory against Eternal Fire in IEM Katowice. However, Eternal Fire also suffers from the same ailment where they are unable to perform in big games.

I hope this troubling occurrence doesn’t become a trend for The MongolZ as they are the lone APAC team in the top 10 currently. This feels like the tournament that got away for The MongolZ who now miss out on a massive monetary prize and a boost in the VRS rankings.

IEM Melbourne teams announced

We all loved it when IEM Melbourne was announced. The teams coming Down Under are even better. I don’t think I’ve seen a more stacked lineup for this event since the initial event in Sydney.

The teams for IEM Melbourne 2025 are:

• Team Spirit
• Team Liquid
• Pain
• The Mongolz
• FlyQuest
• FaZe Clan
• NAVI
• MOUZ
• Virtus Pro
• GamerLegion
• 3DMAX
• BIG
• Team Vitality
• Eternal Fire
• Team Falcons
• MIBR

DFRAG will have a media team down onsite interviewing with as many players and coaches as we can. Say hi to us if you see us around.

SemperFi wins EPL Oceania Season 1

SemperFi took down Housebets in the European Pro League Oceania with a dominant 2-0 where Housebets only managed to get eight rounds across the series. SaVage and Shadiy were incredibly dominant with a 1.82 and 1.80 ratings respectively as they ran rampant.

This would be the first tournament that Semper Fi has won but unfortunately, it had no VRS points attached to it. It only adds further pain that they had previously lost to Rooster in the BLAST Rising Asia Oceania Qualifier.

DFRAG Invitational LAN lineup finalised

The DFRAG Invitational closed qualifiers finished up last week with SemperFi and Vantage qualifying on the first day while Justice for Tomorrow and Housebets qualified on the second day.

Semper Fi continued its good form to potentially earn more VRS points after such a dominant display. The most unexpected qualification came from Vantage who were expected to either just miss out or qualify on the second day after a surprise 2-1 victory over Housebets.

Disappointingly DXA was forced to forfeit. There hasn’t been any penalties announced yet; however, a similar incident happened at the ANZ Sparks Cup in November where the admins had mentioned that there would be punishments in the future.

Rooster bench dpr, add DannyG

As Rooster seemed to be rising, they made a questionable move to bench dpr and add DannyG back to the roster. This is a strange move to me as Rooster were seemingly on an upward trajectory after beating SemperFi in the BLAST Rising Asia Closed Qualifier.

It has been approximately two years since DannyG has played as his last tournament was The Insanely Awesome CS:GO Tournament in 2022.

ECL Season 49 continues: TALON shines in its first match

TALON played its first match in the ECL on the 19th February against KZG with sterling and malta as subs for mhL and AZR. TALON scored a 2-0 victory against KZG with a gutsy comeback on Inferno after being down 8-5.

The other major note was The Art of War scoring a 2-0 win over Mindfreak. This defeat puts Mindfreak into a 3-5 record against key teams. This could be essentially damaging for their playoff and their ability to retain their spot in the ESL Challenge League.

Results

February 18
Housebets v Mindfreak (16-13, 9-13)

February 19
Mindfreak v Art of War (13-16, 13-16)
Underground v Rooster (13-11, 5-13)
Housebets v JFT (13-10, 13-2)
Vantage v MANTRA (13-9, 13-11)
TALON v KZG (13-6, 13-10)

February 25
Vantage v Only One Word (formerly Art of War) (11-13, 13-7)

February 26
Underground v KZG (10-13, 13-8)
Rooster v JFT (13-1, 13-2)
Housebets v Vantage (Postponed)

That is all for this fortnight in Australia! Be sure to tune in to ESL Pro League S21 on March 1 for our three Aussie squads in FlyQuest, Housebets, and Mindfreak!