mousesports defeat AVANGAR to progress to Group B winners' match at CAC

MOUZ are through to Group B's winners' match at the CS:GO Asia Championships following a 2-0 victory over AVANGAR in their first match in Shanghai.

AVANGAR found themselves facing their first obstacle of the tournament before the matchup against MOUZ even began, with Sanjar "⁠SANJI⁠" Kuliev unable to travel to Shanghai with the CIS squad due to passport issues. PGL Major Krakow winner Rustem "⁠mou⁠" Telepov was chosen to stand-in for the squad with the team hopeful of SANJI’s return by the end of the group stage.

Dust2, AVANGAR’s map pick, began with the CIS taking a 2-0 start. It did not take long for MOUZ to get their name on the board, though, as the European mixture tightened up their defence to lock down a five-round streak. The two sides then locked horns in a back-and-forth before MOUZ buckled down to secure a 10-5 scoreline, with a Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker quad kill closing out the half.

AVANGAR claimed a much-needed second half pistol and the subsequent round that followed as the two teams swapped sides, but MOUZ replied swiftly with two rounds of their own. A Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov triple kill ensured AVANGAR stayed hot on MOUZ’ heels at 9-12, but with the finish line in sight, MOUZ hit a higher gear on the offence to take four of the last six rounds to close out the map 16-11 and gain the series advantage.

The matchup then headed in the direction of Inferno, a map where the two teams had last faced each other in the StarLadder Major Challengers Stage, when MOUZ had narrowly edged it out in overtime. This time around, AVANGAR claimed the opening CT pistol to ensure the 100% pistol round conversion in the series continued for the CIS side. MOUZ levelled the score instantly, however, as the European mixture secured a force buy and the following round to take an early 2-1 lead. As AVANGAR got guns in hand, though, Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali and his squad dictated proceedings with seven out of the next eight rounds going in their favour, with mou standing out for the CIS side. MOUZ could muster just two additional rounds before the half concluded with Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen’s men chasing a 5-10 deficit.

MOUZ wasted no time taking the lead in the second half as a water-tight defence from the European mixture allowed them to rapidly overtake AVANGAR on the scoreboard at 12-11. With their economy in shatters, AVANGAR could not find a way through the iron wall of MOUZ as karrigan and his squad shut down the map 16-11, and the series 2-0, to move on to Group B's winners' match and assure themselves of a playoff appearance regardless of the outcome of Thursday's clash against ENCE.