mousesports defeat Evil Geniuses; to face Vitality in EPICENTER final

MOUZ maintain their winning record against Evil Geniuses with a 2-0 victory, securing a grand final placement against Vitality in Moscow.

The second semi-final of EPICENTER 2019 saw Evil Geniuses take another stab at MOUZ, against whom they have lost the past four best-of-three faceoffs, with only one map victory to show. The two squads clashed in Sweden, China, Denmark and, now, Russia, with a grand final spot on the line.

With much to prove, Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz and his men took to face their kryptonite on Train and Overpass in looks to clear their record and break free of established tendencies.

In fitting fashion for a semi-final, Train started with an explosive pistol round in favour of MOUZ' CT side, where despite a triple kill from Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte, Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen managed to convert the exchange by way of a smoke defuse. Evil Geniuses' following force buy succeeded, but lacked any long-term follow-up, as a convincing defence persisted in accruing rounds. Faced with a mounting discrepancy, the offense eventually found a round to latch onto, successfully closing out all remaining rounds to re-engage at 6-9.

The latter pistol round went the way of Evil Geniuses, as did the follower, but the offense snuck in a three-round buffer to keep their opponents from bridging the gap to an uncomfortable stage. The "geniuses" simply could not be denied on the defence, however, as the squad was able to close the difference altogether, bringing the score to 12 rounds apiece. David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský shut down a formidable attempt at a comeback, ensuring pivotal momentum for MOUZ that subsequently meant a 16-12 closure on their own map pick.

Overpass saw continued success for MOUZ, who once more found themselves opening the map on the CT side. An outstanding showing from Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong in the pistol round got the team in swing, as MOUZ trampled over Evil Geniuses despite a fistful of rifle rounds for the Americans. A strong triple kill effort from Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold meant a string of conversions mid-half, but the long-run saw MOUZ take a 10-5 half.

The tag-team duo of Brehze and Ethan ensured a chance of returning back into the series, having culled two members of MOUZ each in the second pistol. This development inspired the geniuses to succeed, as the team found consistency in the early rounds, breaking down the round difference to just one.

Unwilling to concede their advantage, MOUZ found a window of opportunity that was promptly exploited, yielding three rounds, but the success was short-lived, as Ethan set his team back on track. frozen responded in like, and contrary to their opponents, MOUZ took the advantage all the way to a map and series victory at a close 16-14.