mousesports defeat fnatic to reach Europe Minor upper final

MOUZ have assured themselves of a top-three finish at the Europe Minor after beating fnatic in convincing fashion in the first round of the playoffs.

The European mixture had barely made it out of the groups but looked a completely different team today, taking the reins of the game on Dust2 right after losing the pistol round. fnatic were having a hard time to break through the CTs until Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell pulled off a 1v3 clutch with a Desert Eagle in the 12th round. That round appeared to breathe new life into the Swedish team, who ended the half trailing their opponents by just three rounds.

A 1v2 clutch by Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström in an A retake closed the gap even further, but fnatic would soon lose their grip on the game. With guns in hands, MOUZ went on an impressive run and hit map point at 15-10 after denying their opponents the chance to string rounds together.

fnatic refused to throw in the towel and made one final push in an effort to force overtime. It looked like they would succeed, but then David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský pulled an ace out of his hat to give his team the lead in the series.

Next up was Inferno, where fnatic were put on the back foot from the get-go. They struggled to find their top gear against a compact MOUZ defence and kept losing every duel, forcing Xizt to call a timeout when his team were down 1-7. It would take the Swedes some time to get a grip on proceedings, but a four-round streak towards the end of the half kept their comeback hopes alive.

fnatic lost the next pistol round but were then gifted a way back into the game as MOUZ let an anti-eco round slip away. The game then entered a scrappy period as rounds went back and forth, but then Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's troops piled on the pressure and locked down the map with a three-round streak to set up a winners' match against North on Saturday.