MOUZ see off Spirit to reach Pro League final
MOUZ have locked up a spot in the grand final of ESL Pro League 21 following a high-octane series against Spirit, picking up hard-fought wins on Nuke and Ancient either side of a loss on Dust2.
It’s the second grand final in a row for MOUZ under Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin after they lifted the PGL Cluj-Napoca trophy just three weeks ago. They now await the winner of the other semi-final encounter, pitting Vitality against The MongolZ.
MOUZ claim a major scalp
MOUZ headed into the series confident about their Nuke pick as this had become a home map of sorts for them. Things looked incredibly promising for them as they raced out to a 9-1 lead on the T side, but then they ceded control to Spirit.
Individual heroics from Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás and Brollan allowed MOUZ to take the game to overtime, with the duo then pulling off a 2v4 clutch to seal victory when a second OT seemed inevitable.
MOUZ were second-best for the majority of Dust2, losing their second straight game on this map, but they came out swinging on Ancient, where Dorian “xertioN” Berman had a massive performance on the CT side, powering the team to an 8-1 lead.
Spirit are easily MOUZ’s biggest scalp so far under Brollan, who has led the team to its second straight final.
PGL Bucharest’s title may have come with some asterisks given that many top teams skipped the event, but today’s win was as legit as it gets. Still, questions remain about their ability to claim the title in Stockholm, especially if they face Vitality, to whom they lost 0-2 in the Swiss stage a week ago.
“I have a similar feeling to what happened in Cluj-Napoca,” torzsi said after the match. “We lost to Falcons in the groups, then in the final we had to play them and we knew how good they were and how much we needed to step up.
“I think it will be a little bit the same if we face them in the final.”
Spirit’s finals streak is over
Speaking to Edona “dona” Muliu in a pre-match interview, Boris “magixx” Vorobiev pointed out how the mentality in his squad can easily shift during a game. Frustration began to take hold of Spirit’s players after the rough start to Nuke, and though they still lost the game in the end, they showed tremendous fighting spirit in their comeback from 9-1 down.
Danil “donk” Kryshkovets then took over the game, putting up 17 frags to lead Spirit to a 10-2 half on Dust2 before helping close the map out with back-to-back double kills.
Many expected Spirit to carry that momentum into Ancient, but the Russian side looked disjointed and off the pace at the start of the map. They picked themselves up and took the game to their opponents, but just like on Nuke, the slow start proved fatal.
It’s a disappointing end to the tournament for Spirit, who are out of the running for the title after four consecutive finals appearances (BLAST World Final, Shanghai Major, BLAST Bounty and IEM Katowice). Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov’s troops will have a couple of days’ rest before the trip to Copenhagen for the group stage of BLAST Open Lisbon.
Visit to feel excite >> CSGO Highlight –Mouz vs Spirit– ESL Pro League Season 21
