Christopher "dexter" Nong and company were made to work for it, needing overtime on Inferno before almost dropping a seven-round lead on the decider of Ancient.
MOUZ defeated Sangal in a three-map series to clinch a spot in the IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage after going 3-2 in the European RMR B tournament.
The European combine beat OG and K23 to reach the best-of-three stage, where they first lost to Vitality in a three-map series before getting the job done against Sangal. The Robin "ScrunK" Röpke-led team will be disappointed to lose out after dropping a 13-7 lead on the first map of Inferno before running out of steam on the decider of Ancient.
torzsi is one of three Major debutants in MOUZ
Sangal got off on the right foot on Inferno, winning the T pistol and racing to a 5-0 lead, before a retake on the A site got MOUZ their first. Love "phzy" Smidebrant answered by winning a 1vs2 clutch, which meant that the underdog team was six rounds up in no time. They would win just one more round in the half, however, as MOUZ woke up and reduced the deficit to just one at halftime.
An aggressive push down middle gave Sangal their second pistol, which they once again converted into a five-round streak to lead 13-7. MOUZ came back to salvage the half, eventually forcing overtime with a B attack. Dorian "xertioN" Berman began OT with a triple-kill, as he crept into CT spawn undetected to backstab the B defenders and deliver the round for his team. MOUZ's experience shone through, looking more comfortable in high-pressure situations to close out the map 19-16.
Sangal began Vertigo with another quick start, going up 8-1 before MOUZ were able to find at least some success when David "frozen" Čerňanský reduced the deficit to six with a 1vs2 clutch. Caner "soulfly" Kesici was the best performer in the half, as he went 7:0 in opening duels in the first half to help his team go into the interval with an 11-4 scoreline.
Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás began the second half with a triple in the pistol, but MOUZ immediately dropped the ball in the ensuing forcebuy, going down 5-14. This time, dexter and company weren't able to come back, dropping the map 9-16 to move the series to the decider of Ancient.
Sangal were once again quicker out of the gates, but MOUZ fought back quickly to tie up the scores at 4-4. Their CT side looked strong, with dexter leading by example to put his team five up at the interval.
MOUZ were able to start the second half by winning the immediate forcebuy to negate another Sangal pistol round, converting the momentum to a 13-6 lead. They had some trouble closing out the game, but dexter's crucial triple-kill and a 1vs1 clutch by Jon "JDC" de Castro were enough to get them over the line, 16-12.
IEM Road to Rio 2022 Europe RMR BBest of 3 MOUZMatchpage 2 1 9th October 2022 Sangal 19Inferno 16 9Vertigo 16 16Ancient 12
MOUZ
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
David 'frozen' Čerňanskýfrozen
61 - 53
+8
78.5
1.17
Christopher 'dexter' Nongdexter
67 - 61
+6
79.3
1.10
Dorian 'xertioN' BermanxertioN
63 - 58
+5
74.9
1.08
Jon 'JDC' de CastroJDC
47 - 61
-14
68.1
0.87
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsástorzsi
39 - 54
-15
51.4
0.81
Sangal
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Caner 'soulfly' Kesicisoulfly
67 - 60
+7
82.2
1.18
Kornél 'kory' Szedlárkory
60 - 60
0
74.6
1.07
Love 'phzy' Smidebrantphzy
56 - 51
+5
65.5
1.06
Can 'kyuubii' Alikyuubii
50 - 52
-2
60.4
0.95
Robin 'ScrunK' RöpkeScrunK
48 - 55
-7
66.9
0.93
Group Swiss 3W - 0L Natus Vincere ENCE 3W - 1L Vitality HEROIC OG 3W - 2L BIG MOUZ 2W - 2L Falcons Outsiders 2W - 3L Sangal K23 1W - 3L Monte HEET Illuminar 0W - 3L FANTASY SAW
The teams confirmed at the Major so far are:
Legends Stage FaZe Ninjas in Pyjamas Natus Vincere ENCE Sprout Spirit Liquid Challengers Stage 9z FURIA 00NATION IHC fnatic GamerLegion Bad News Eagles Grayhound BIG Cloud9 MOUZ Evil Geniuses
TBD* HEROIC OG
HEROIC and OG will play in a third-place decider bracket for a Legends spot