mousesports lose to BIG; hold 0-2 record in DreamHack Masters Spring - Europe Group B

MOUZ fell to BIG in their second Dreamhack Masters Spring - Europe matchday and are now 0-2 in the competition's round-robin stage.

MOUZ were unable to shake off their recent run of poor form, falling to BIG in their second DreamHack Masters - Europe Group B fixture. After a loss to Complexity in their first game of the tournament, Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen’s men are now down 0-2. The No. 4 team in the world come straight out of a 13-14th place finish in ESL One: Road to Rio - Europe, and will need a victory in their last group stage match against MAD Lions if they don’t want to go down a similar path in the ongoing DreamHack Masters event. BIG on the other hand secured a second victory after defeating MAD Lions in their opening match and are a strong contender to top the group ahead of the playoffs.

MOUZ and BIG got off to a close start, as the pistol round and eco won by mouz were followed up with four rounds in a row by BIG on the defense. karrigan’s men didn’t let up despite losing the lead and retook it by winning seven out of the following eight rounds, before a triple by Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz denied MOUZ double-digits as the European combine went into the half with a 9-6 lead.

The second pistol round came down to a 3vs3 on the upper bombsite, which Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong were able to win for their team. A second-round loss to desert eagles put BIG in the driver’s seat, as they quickly found themselves tying the match up 10-10 after winning the first full buy round of the half. Up 13-12, Nils "⁠k1to⁠" Gruhne found a big triple kill that Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş rounded out with a double as BIG inched closer to winning their rival’s map pick. Despite back-and-forth rounds and hitting match-point, however, BIG were unable to end it as mouz pushed it to overtime.

XANTARES found himself in 1vs2 and 1vs3 afterplant situations in the first two rounds of overtime, but unable to win them it was MOUZ who took a one-round lead in the first half. The two teams then traded rounds, but MOUZ were unable to convert on match point and the map went into double OT. mouz once again took a 2-1 lead after the first three rounds and were able to close out the map this time around, 22-20.

MOUZ started out 2-0 on the CT side of Vertigo, and although BIG momentarily took a 3-2 lead, three kills by karrigan on the A site tied it back up in the sixth round. The European team then doubled the numbers on the scoreboard to go ahead 6-3, and although two rounds later BIG were in good position to tally another round, a 1vs2 afterplant clutch by ropz shut them down, after which MOUZ went to close the half with a comfortable 11-4 lead.

The second pistol round started with the two teams clashing in mid, and after trading players it was BIG who came out on top, going on to stop a play towards the A site later in the round. The German team then took control of the situation early on and started to build up a bank, laying the foundations for a comeback. MOUZ won a full buy round, following it up to reach 13, but BIG kept control on the defense and brought it even. MOUZ then found the lead again late in the map, but lost to an eco the following round. Three critical kills by tabseN got BIG on match point, which they were able to capitalize on to finish the map 16-14 and move the series to Dust2.

BIG got off to a flying start on Dust2 thanks to a quad-kill by tabseN in the first pistol round on the attack, and although MOUZ won a round to try and put a stop to their opponent's momentum, they were unable to follow it up, proving to be no match for the German squad who rampaged to a 13-2 half. Having won the second pistol round of the map, it was smooth sailing for BIG as they were able to close it out without a hitch, 16-2, to keep a clean 2-0 record in the competition.