mousesports knock out BIG in ESL Pro League S12

The DreamHack Masters and cs_summit 6 champions have been eliminated after putting up a disappointing showing.

MOUZ are through to the lower bracket final of ESL Pro League Season 12's European division following a 2-1 victory over BIG, the second-highest ranked team that was still in the running in the $450,000 tournament. The current world No.5 hit back after losing the opening map, and they looked poised to win the series after starting the decider on a high note. However, they fizzled out as the game wore on and were unable to post a single round on the CT side as MOUZ went on a 10-0 round to survive their second elimination series and set up a match against Astralis on Saturday.

Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's charges took an early lead on the T side of Nuke, but they lost their grip on the game once BIG bought up. The German team went on a 9-1 run before the final two rounds of the half to MOUZ, who went into the break chasing a 6-9 deficit.

David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský became the hero for MOUZ in the second-half pistol by sticking the defuse in a 1v1 situation against Tizian "⁠tiziaN⁠" Feldbusch to win an all-important round for his team. BIG struggled to find their footing in the half, and any round that they won was immediately traded back by MOUZ, who were in cruise control and finished the game on a high.

BIG came out on Dust2 looking a revitalised team and romped to a 7-1 lead on the T side. Things were starting to look bleak for MOUZ, but the international team tightened up and held BIG's offense in check for the remainder of the half to reduce the deficit to just three rounds.

Now playing on the T side, MOUZ kept the pressure on with a near-flawless pistol, only to be caught off-guard by BIG's Desert Eagles in the following round. The German team started to put some rounds together and then weathered a late comeback attempt from their opponents to secure the map and take the series to Inferno.

The final map followed the same pattern as Dust2, with BIG bursting out of the gate but then gradually losing steam. Aurimas "⁠Bymas⁠" Pipiras and Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong combined for 29 frags in the half as MOUZ fought back from 1-7 down to enter the break with a 6-9 deficit for the third time in the series.

MOUZ took the game by the throat early in the second half and did not let go, quickly securing the lead for the first time on the map. BIG still tried to get back in the game, but they were made to pay for their inability to close out rounds. The first blow came when frozen clutched a 1v2 situation; two rounds later, Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and chrisJ were able to overcome a 2v5 scenario, leaving the German players shell-shocked and with no money in the bank to respond for the rest of the game.