North beat mousesports; to face Astralis in final

North started the series against MOUZ by losing 0-16 on Dust2, but managed to win Inferno in the last round, 16-14, and sealed the deal on Mirage, 16-12.

Dust2 kicked off with MOUZ taking the pistol round and the following anti-ecos before pushing North on a save-call after losing two players without trading in the first gun round. In the sixth round, Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski was able to win a 1vs2 afterplant to keep MOUZ in the driver’s seat. From there on out, MOUZ took complete control of their map pick as they brutalized North on their way to a 15-0. The second pistol round ended up in a 2vs2 on B site, Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong and Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný, who were keeping the dream alive, were eventually able to take Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup and Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså out in the afterplant situation to seal the deal, 16-0.

The second map, Inferno, kicked off with North getting the CT-side pistol round and winning the first gun round on top of the anti-ecos for a 4-0 lead. MOUZ were then able to successfully make the bomb go off to get on the board, but North put the wall up taking five rounds in a row for a 9-1 lead only letting the European combine plant the bomb once. Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen then had a huge round with three AWP kills including the last two in a 2vs2 on A to keep his team rolling, but then MOUZ were finally able to find their groove, winning the last four rounds of the half to make it 10-5.

The second pistol round also went the way of MOUZ, but North were able to win the forcebuy with a triple by valde on the A site. It was then oskar’s turn to get a triple with the Desert Eagle to keep MOUZ on the comeback trail, but once again a CZ play by North with another triple by valde, this time on B, kept the Danes going strong. A huge round by chrisJ who got a ssg08 triple with his team down 7-13 kept the game close as North had to go on an eco. It was finally the Danes, switching up their attacks, that were able to make it to match point, 15-10. MOUZ didn’t give up and bought it back starting with a 3vs4 retake with doubles by Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and oskar. Making it to the 30th round, MOUZ lost it to a B rush with a 5vs3 advantage.

The decider, Mirage, started going the way of North, who were able to win the pistol round on the attacking side, but MOUZ were able to win a forcebuy in the third round with a triple by oskar. The Danes then won five rounds in a row, exploiting MOUZ’ defenses, but chrisJ & co. were able to bring it back to within one, taking six of the last seven rounds making it a 7-8 score at the half.

The second pistol round tied it up for MOUZ as they smashed the North defense with a play assaulting several positions on the map. North were able to take the gun round with valde as the only surviving player. As both teams traded rounds, the score came to an 11-11 scoreline with MOUZ going on an eco. Back on the lead, North weren’t able to follow it up, with MOUZ making it 12-12 after an A execute. It was then MOUZ who could not take advantage of North’s lack of utility the following round, as a double by Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye and a lone frag from Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen prompted MOUZ to save. North then followed it up and forced the European combine on a save, making it 15-12 before closing it out 16-12 to move on to the grand final.