Vitality and Aurora both won their upper-bracket semifinals at StarLadder StarSeries Fall, HLTV reported on September 18. Vitality defeated FURIA 2-0 and Aurora defeated NRG 2-0, results that sent both teams into the upper-bracket final, which carries a place in the grand final.
Vitality 2-0 FURIA
Vitality won 13-8 on Mirage and 13-5 on Dust2. HLTV framed the series as a return to form for Dan "apEX" Madesclaire's side, named 2025 Team of the Year, after a flat start to the Fall season that included playing with a stand-in at BLAST Open Porto.
Vitality trailed 1-5 early on Mirage. According to HLTV, the momentum shifted when FURIA's Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo ran the bomb into William "mezii" Merriman on the B site during a 3v2 while his teammates were on A, giving away a round FURIA had looked set to win. Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut then led the comeback with five opening kills and 15 kills in the first half, later adding a 1v3 clutch, while Robin "ropz" Kool won a 1v2. HLTV described Danil "molodoy" Golubenko's map as poor, and Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato's output only narrowed the final margin.
On Dust2, an early ZywOo quad-kill turned a 3v5 pistol round, and Vitality led 7-5 at the half. apEX topped the scoreboard on the map with support from Shahar "flameZ" Shushan. Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis kept FURIA in contention with multi-kills in the first half, but Vitality pulled away after the side switch, and mezii closed out the series with a 1v2 clutch.
Aurora 2-0 NRG
Aurora won 13-7 on Cache, NRG's map pick, and 19-17 on Mirage after two overtimes. HLTV reported that Aurora's retakes on the CT side carried the Cache half before Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş took over on offense to finish the map.
On Mirage, a six-round run on the T side put Aurora ahead 6-0, but NRG came back behind Michael "Grim" Wince to lead 11-7. XANTARES and Özgür "woxic" Eker forced overtime and carried Aurora through the second overtime period. HLTV noted that Aurora players had previously cited mentality problems costing them games, as Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo told the outlet at BLAST Open Porto.
The defeat dropped NRG into the lower bracket against MIBR, according to HLTV.
