mouz over FaZe to EL playoffs

The first map of the second semifinal of the ELEAGUE Last Chance Qualifier, which was an all-European face-off between MOUZ and FaZe, was Train and it was Ricardo "⁠fox⁠" Pacheco's FaZe who completely shut down mousesports on their site take and claimed the first pistolround on their CT side.

Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey picked up three M4A1 opening kills on the first gunround to minimise mouz's chances of establishing a T-side foothold and FaZe thus moved ahead to a 4-0 lead, but two Deagle kills from Timo "⁠Spiidi⁠" Richter on the next round somehow brought mousesports into the game, although the game itself was paused due to technical issues following this fifth round.

After the pause, FaZe regained the momentum advantage and pulled ahead to a 7-1 lead before a triple AK47 kills from Denis "⁠denis⁠" Howell helped put another round on the board for mousesports. Eventually, mouz managed to wake up slightly and solidify their T-side game and the half ended with FaZe only possessing a 9-6 lead despite a strong start.

Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač obliterated FaZe on mouz's CT-side with a USP quad kill and the game seemed to be getting closer until FaZe simply opted for the tried and tested pistolbuy rush and Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad assisted his team with three CZ75 kills to suddenly give FaZe the 10-7 lead and leave mouz with a broken economy.

Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup picked up a UMP quad kill on FaZe's following anti-eco and FaZe eventually moved ahead to 12-7 before mousesports answered back with a solid defensive round. The 21st round however saw aizy continue upon his strong performance on Train with a triple AK47 kill and despite mouz picking up one more round, it was FaZe who closed the first map out 16-9.

The next map was Dust2 and it was mousesports' turn to display a confident and unflinching front as the German-Dutch-Bosnian team easily claimed their T-side pistolround as well as the first gunround and moved ahead to an early 5-0 lead. Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard came up big for FaZe on the sixth round on a B site retake and helped FaZe get a round but mouz soon reversed that momentum as Spiidi secured three AK47 entry kills for his team and his team moved ahead to 6-1.

With Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong on point for his team on their T side, mousesports closed the first half out with a dominant 13-2 score. FaZe managed to grab the second pistolround with aizy and jkaem both scoring double kills, but a triple kill from chrisJ completely reversed the second half momentum and mousesports were soon on their way to claiming the second map 16-3.

It all therefore came down to Cache as the decider map and FaZe were the ones to start things on the right foot with a T side pistolround that saw jkaem secure one Glock and two USP kills for his team. However, the greatness of star players has a way of shining through and NiKo completely reversed all expectations on the second round with a jaw-dropping Deagle ace on the B site.

FaZe were apparently unfazed by this as kioShiMa's bought-up AK47 secured two entry kills for his team on the third round and FaZe went back into the lead at 2-1. FaZe managed to take a 4-1 lead in the end before mousesports upped their defensive game and the score equalised at 4-4 and then went tit-for-tat into a 5-5 scenario.

This was the moment when rain and fox came alive for their team and FaZe pulled ahead, ultimately taking a 9-6 lead at the end of the first half. The second pistolround saw FaZe retake against an A site plant and pull ahead even further to a 10-6 lead.

FaZe won their anti-ecos and a triple kill and bomb defuse from jkaem on the first gunround (to make the score 13-6) was only topped by rain, who secured an ace for his team on the twentieth round against a subsequent mousesports buyround and made the score a commanding 14-6.

chrisJ managed to win a one-versus-two for his team on the 21st round to bring mousesports back into the game and the mostly Germanic team climbed to 11 rounds before solid defense from FaZe on the B site gave them match point at 15-11. Despite this lead, mousesports clawed their way back with patient play and took the game to overtime.

The overtime went back and forth but mousesports managed to retain a slight edge and took the third map 19-17, eliminating FaZe from ELEAGUE and advancing to the playoffs.

ELEAGUE Season 1Best of 3

MOUZ

Matchpage

2

1

16th July 2016

FaZe

9

Train

16

16

Dust2

3

19

Cache

17

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	68 - 57	+11	88.1	73.8%	1.29
Johannes 'nex' Magetnex	62 - 54	+8	86.7	78.8%	1.21
Timo 'Spiidi' RichterSpiidi	53 - 55	-2	76.1	76.2%	1.12
Chris 'chrisJ' de JongchrisJ	53 - 50	+3	71.1	77.5%	1.12
Denis 'denis' Howelldenis	44 - 56	-12	60.7	65.0%	0.89

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	68 - 61	+7	88.4	75.0%	1.20
Philip 'aizy' Aistrupaizy	59 - 55	+4	81.3	82.5%	1.14
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostadjkaem	56 - 57	-1	75.3	68.8%	1.06
Ricardo 'fox' Pachecofox	45 - 52	-7	63.7	61.3%	0.91
Fabien 'kioShiMa' FieykioShiMa	44 - 55	-11	70.8	67.5%	0.89

ELEAGUE Season 1 will resume next week on July 21-22 as the eight playoff teams will play their quarter-finals matches to determine who will advance to the semifinals in the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

stich writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter