mousesports defeat NIP to claim Flashpoint 3 title

The European squad completed their near-flawless run at the European Regional Major Ranking (RMR) event by beating Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1.

Massive underdogs heading into the tournament, being just the eight-highest-ranked team at Flashpoint 3, MOUZ completed their miracle run to take the trophy over Ninjas in Pyjamas in the grand final on Sunday.

Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong's men opened the series with a 16-13 loss on Overpass — the only map they dropped in the event —, before going on to take convincing victories on Nuke (16-6) and Inferno (16-9). "There is still so much to do, so much to learn," were the Australian's first words after the victory few could predict three weeks ago.

"We were coming from a dark area, we achieved our goals step by step," dexter said in the post match interview. "First top 5, then top 3, now we won it - it is pretty f*cking crazy."

The 27-year-old's early woes with the European team seem to be behind him now, as he averaged a 1.18 rating in Flashpoint 3, but David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský and Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool outshone the caller by a significant margin. The former was handed his first MVP award for the immense contributions to MOUZ' first tournament win since ICE Challenge at the start of 2020.

MVP frozen posted his best event rating since joining mouz (1.35)

Despite the grand final loss, Ninjas in Pyjamas managed a respectable second place finish in their debut event with Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz, which kicked off with a controversial game against Anonymo. Following the rematch win, the Swedes were knocked to the lower bracket by G2, but ran the gauntlet to place ahead of Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač's team, as well as the likes of Astralis and HEROIC.

Claiming the CT pistol got MOUZ the lead at the start of the series, going 4-0 on Overpass before an eco B push allowed Ninjas in Pyjamas to get into the drivers' seat. The Swedish-Danish team went on a run as MOUZ double AWP setup failed to find success, seeing Ninjas in Pyjamas finish the half with an impressive 10-5 lead. Similarly to the first half, MOUZ claimed the pistol and the followups, but Ninjas in Pyjamas did well in the rifle rounds to go 14-8 ahead. While ropz pushed his team to fight back, Ninjas in Pyjamas ultimately closed out the map 16-13.

Ninjas in Pyjamas struggled to bring the same level of performance on Nuke, where dexter's team continued their flawless pistol round record in the series. The Australian in-game leader secured two clutches and five multikills as MOUZ found themselves 12-6 up after switching to the CT side, sitting in a prime position to claim the map. The defensive side ended up being flawless from MOUZ, who staggered Ninjas in Pyjamas's pushes and took Nuke 16-6.

The Swedish team's maiden pistol round of the grand final didn't amount to much as it was instantly countered by MOUZ' force buy, setting them up for the lead. frozen and ropz were thorns in Ninjas in Pyjamas's side as MOUZ reached a 10-5 halftime score, but a second-round force buy after the switch gave Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser and co. gave a lifeline. All hope was lost after Ninjas in Pyjamas fumbled an anti-eco round, seeing their opponents lock in the victory, 16-9.

Flashpoint 3Best of 3

MOUZ

Matchpage

2

1

30th May 2021

Ninjas in Pyjamas

13

Overpass

16

16

Nuke

6

16

Inferno

9

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
David 'frozen' Čerňanskýfrozen	58 - 44	+14	94.6	80.3%	1.39
Robin 'ropz' Koolropz	61 - 40	+21	80.5	80.3%	1.37
Christopher 'dexter' Nongdexter	59 - 44	+15	75.6	73.7%	1.23
Frederik 'acoR' GyldstrandacoR	50 - 47	+3	76.0	68.4%	1.14
Aurimas 'Bymas' PipirasBymas	49 - 44	+5	67.1	77.6%	1.05

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	56 - 54	+2	68.6	68.4%	1.00
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	50 - 60	-10	81.2	64.5%	0.97
Hampus 'hampus' Poserhampus	37 - 55	-18	68.6	61.8%	0.80
Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez ZamoraPlopski	37 - 55	-18	53.1	67.1%	0.79
Erik 'ztr' Gustafssonztr	37 - 55	-18	48.4	61.8%	0.72

Final standings for Flashpoint 3:

1. MOUZ - 1600 RMR Points + $17,000
2. Ninjas in Pyjamas - 1500 RMR Points + $10,000
3. G2 - 1400 RMR Points + $7,000
4. HEROIC - 1300 RMR Points + $5,000
5. BIG - 1200 RMR Points + $4,000
6. Astralis - 1100 RMR Points + $3,000
7. Vitality - 1000 RMR Points + $2,000
8. DBL PONEY - 900 RMR Points + $2,000
9. FunPlus Phoenix - 800 RMR Points
10. Complexity - 700 RMR Points
11. Sprout - 600 RMR Points
12. Anonymo - 500 RMR Points
13-16. HYENAS - 250 RMR Points
13-16. FaZe - 250 RMR Points
13-16. fnatic - 250 RMR Points
13-16. OG - 250 RMR Points

MOUZ' top finish sees them jump up to the fourth place in the European Regional Major Rankings standings, sitting behind G2, HEROIC, and Ninjas in Pyjamas who were handed points based on their RMR results in 2020. In the top-eight are also teams such as Vitality and Astralis, while OG, fnatic, and FaZe will need to show better results to ensure a spot at the PGL Stockholm Major in October.