mousesports eliminate Astralis to set up Pro League final with fnatic

MOUZ are through to the grand final of ESL Pro League Season 11 Europe after taking down Astralis in the decider match.

The international team booked a spot in Sunday's best-of-five title decider after exacting revenge for Thursday's 0-2 thrashing at the hands of the Danes in the final round of the second stage. MOUZ looked a much improved side today as they rose to the challenge in a nail-biting series that had two close maps, one of which with overtime.

At first, it looked like Dust2 would be a repeat of Thursday's beatdown. Astralis, who started out on the T side, repeatedly had MOUZ players pinned against the ropes as they raced to a 6-2 lead. The international squad tightened up rather well after that, but a late push from the Danes saw them end the half on double-digit territory.

MOUZ kept themselves in the game with a successful long execute in the pistol round, with Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen then avoiding a painful reset with four key frags, including a 1v2 clutch with a Scout. That was the start of a dominant period from the European mixture, who leveled the score at 10-10, piling the pressure on their stunned opponents. With the game starting to get away from Astralis, the Danes finally found their footing in the half with a string of rounds, but their resurgence was short-lived as MOUZ regained control, though they would not be able to go all the way as they wasted two map points.

Astralis showed once again some more feeble defending in overtime as they failed to contain the MOUZ offense, especially Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker, who racked up 27 kills on the map with the AWP. The Turkish AWPer was decisive in the final round of overtime with two frags to set his team up for victory on this entertaining map.

Inferno ended up being a rather dull affair. MOUZ answered back after losing the opening three rounds of the game, but they simply couldn't keep up with the pace set by Astralis and were limited to just four rounds in the half, with Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz sitting atop the scoreboard with 17 kills to his name.

After switching to the CT side, Astralis quickly added to their lead to get within touching distance of victory. MOUZ still attempted a response, but one round was all that they could muster as Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif put his team on map point with a somewhat lucky clutch, ending any chances of a comeback.

Confidence was rippling through Astralis' players after that dominant victory, and they carried that momentum into Nuke, where they romped to a 5-0 lead. The two teams then matched each other blow-for-blow, with David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský raising eyebrows with a 1v3 clutch, but the rest of the half was all about MOUZ, who cut the deficit to 6-9.

A trio of p250 kills from Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth kicked Astralis further into the lead, but MOUZ responded immediately and took control of the game, riding that momentum to a 14-10 lead. The game then entered a chaotic period as nerves began to set in and rounds went back and forth, with Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool eventually taking MOUZ through the finish line with three Desert Eagle frags on a very weak buy from his team.