mousesports overrun Na`Vi in Odense; G2 see off HellRaisers

MOUZ are through to Group B's upper bracket final at the ESL Pro League Season Finals after dismantling Natus Vincere in a two-map series, while G2 live to fight another day after beating HellRaisers 2-1.

The standout match of the round, featuring two top 10 teams in the world, including No.2 side Natus Vincere, quickly became a bloodbath, much to everyone's surprise. It was Na`Vi's map pick, but the Ukrainians looked well off the pace during the early stages of the game and first got on the board nine rounds into the game.

Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko's men woke up after that, winning some crucial rounds with almost nothing to work with as they got constantly reset, but as the round came to an end it was impossible no to feel that they were walking on thin ice, with five rounds separating the two teams.

Now playing on the CT side, MOUZ extended their lead even further, the long-distance advantage of the USPs proving to be too much for Na`Vi to handle. The Ukrainian team tried to respond in the third round, but their buy did not pay off, with Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný proving to be a nuisance with the XM1014.

Once they got their economy back on track, Na`Vi secured their first round of the half, but their hopes were soon dashed as MOUZ hit back immediately to hit map point before finishing off the game in the following round.

Train followed the same pattern as Nuke as MOUZ got off to a blazing fast start on the CT side, hitting double digits without conceding a single round. Natus Vincere then finally broke through the defense with doubles from Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev and Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev to overcome a 2v4 situation, but mousesports quickly regained control, bringing the scoreline to 14-1 on the back of a stellar performance from Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi, who ended the half with 24 kills.

The second half began with Na`Vi taking the opening three rounds, but it was simply too little, too late, as MOUZ responded with two of their own to seal a comprehensive victory - a match that raises over the Ukrainians' current state. Zeus' side will fight for survival in the lower bracket against Sharks on Thursday at 12:00 , while MOUZ will take on MIBR for a semi-final spot, later in the day.

Meanwhile, HellRaisers and G2 face off in a best-of-three series with their tournament lives at stake. The French side got off to a slow start on Dust2, their own map pick, as they won just one of the first seven rounds of the game, but bounced back with a fantastic CT side. Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon's men lost just one gun round over the course of the second half to win the map 16-13, with the 26-year-old ending the game with 29 kills.

HellRaisers looked much livelier on Inferno and cruised to an 11-4 lead on the Terrorist side after keeping G2's players off any economic development throughout the half. G2 kept their comeback hopes alive by winning the second half pistol, but Kyrylo "⁠ANGE1⁠" Karasiow's troops rallied back immediately, putting together a string of rounds to lock down the map at 16-5.

G2 were unfazed by the beating on Inferno, though, and hopped out to a 7-2 lead on the Terrorist side of Overpass. HellRaisers then tightened up their defense to bring the deficit to a solitary round by the end of the half, and they carried that momentum into the second half, winning six of the opening seven rounds.

Up 13-9, HellRaisers seemingly had the game in the bag, but they ran out of gas all of a sudden. The French side, led by shox, the hero of the match, kept a water-tight defence for the rest of the half and bagged seven rounds in a row en-route to a surprising 16-13 finish that puts them through to the next lower bracket round, in which they will face Renegades.