BIG, mousesports round out IEM Katowice team list

MOUZ pulled off a massive comeback on Dust2 against Complexity to earn their spot at the main event, while BIG secured a comfortable win over MIBR.

The IEM Katowice team list has been completed with the additions of BIG and MOUZ, who won the final two lower bracket series in the Play-in to secure their berth at the main event. Both teams have been placed in Group A of the ~$1,000,000 competition, with MOUZ put up against Astralis in the first round and BIG set to face a familiar matchup in HEROIC.

The bout between Complexity and MOUZ began on Mirage, where at first little separated the two teams as the opening half went the way of the latter team 8-7 on the CT side. After sides switched, breaking through to either bombsite was a massive issue for MOUZ, with Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer's men closing the first map with a 9-0 run on the defense.

Things looked dire for Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and company when Complexity entered Dust2 and picked up where they had left off on Mirage, putting up a wall on the CT side for a 9-1 run. MOUZ ended up salvaging the half with five in a row at the end but still found themselves at a big deficit just after sides swapped, as a second-round win featuring a 1v1 clutch from blameF saw Complexity reach match point with ease.

With backs against the wall, MOUZ finally found the recipe for success — a double AWP setup in the hands of ropz and Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand — and fought back against seven match points to force the map to go to overtime. Managing to survive a few tough clutch situations, they went on to complete the massive comeback in the first set on the back of more individual brilliance from ropz.

Complexity looked stunned by the Dust2 loss and Nuke went on to look like a walk in the park for MOUZ, who dominated on the offense with 12 rounds and didn't let blameF & co. suffer for too long, closing out the series just four rounds later.

In their second chance to make it to the main event after having lost to Spirit in the upper bracket quarter-finals, BIG enjoyed a straightforward series against MIBR to clinch one of the last two spots at IEM Katowice.

On Dust2, the German side had Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz kick things off with a quad-kill in a 2v4 situation in the pistol round and used the momentum to dominate on the Terrorist side, securing an easy 16-3 win on the opener. They were looking to close the series comfortably after stringing together another huge streak in the first half of Nuke and did so with a 16-7 victory on their pick on the back of a flawless defense.