mousesports send Liquid to DreamHack Masters Winter group lower bracket

The European team continue their hot streak with another impressive display that puts the North Americans one match away from elimination.

MOUZ extended their winning streak to four matches with a convincing 2-0 victory over Liquid on Monday in DreamHack Masters Winter Europe's Group B. It was yet another clinical performance from the European side, who moved past their opponents in convincing fashion to establish themselves as one of the teams to beat in the $150,000 tournament.

With confidence running high after beating GODSENT, HEROIC and Cloud9 en route to qualifying for the BLAST Premier Fall Finals, MOUZ took the match by its collar as they raced to a 5-1 lead on the T side of Inferno, their map pick. Liquid then found their footing in the game and began putting some rounds together, but they were unable to take the lead as MOUZ withstood sustained pressure despite Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen and Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool struggling to find frags throughout the half.

The second half began with a near-flawless 5v5 post-plant from Liquid thanks to Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski, who picked up two kills and was the provider for the other three with a timely flashbang. The North American team rode that momentum to a 12-9 lead, forcing MOUZ to call a tactical pause. ropz, who was still sitting on four frags, finally woke up and helped his team to turn the game around as Liquid struggled to break their opponents down and counter karrigan's great reads.

Liquid came out the brighter of the two sides on Dust2, but the game quickly ran away from them. MOUZ took control of proceedings after posting their first round as they outfought and outclassed their opponents in the rest of the half — going their entire CT side without ever defusing the bomb —, with ropz boasting a 17-2 score and a stunning AWP ace.

Now playing on the CT side, Liquid looked a different team as they kept chipping away at the deficit despite having a few mishaps. But a remarkable comeback was not on the cards: MOUZ kept the pressure on and immediately recovered when making mistakes to run out comfortable winners on the map.