ropz shines as MOUZ eliminate Renegades from PGL Major Stockholm

Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong saw off his former teammates to put MOUZ just one win away from the Legends Stage.

MOUZ are through to the final round of the Challengers Stage in Stockholm, reverse-sweeping Renegades to remain alive in the tournament and set up a match against BIG for a spot in the Legends Stage.

Despite getting off to a blazing start on Mirage, MOUZ were unable to close out the map after faltering on the T side, but managed to recover with victories on Inferno and Vertigo to take the series over the line. As a result, Renegades are out of contention, ending their tournament run with a 1-3 record following a win against paiN, and losses to Movistar Riders, BIG, and MOUZ.

It was stellar form from Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool that kicked off the series for MOUZ, the European composition dominating the early portions of Mirage with a stalwart defense to go up 11-1. Renegades finally broke through towards the end of the half, grabbing the final three rounds, but it seemed as if the writing was on the wall given ropz's incredible showing that saw him finish the first half with a 24-6 K-D.

However, that red-hot form rapidly cooled off following the side swap as Renegades began to rally back, powered by Alistair "⁠aliStair⁠" Johnston and helped by an eight-round spree where ropz didn't add a single kill to his tally. Without their Estonian star finding the same impact, MOUZ capitulated, an entirely lacklustre T side effort seeing them manage just three rounds as Renegades stole away the map, 16-14.

It was a similarly strong start on Inferno taht led to an early lead for MOUZ, initially led by multi-kill rounds from dexter and ropz, and with David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský pitching in with a quad kill to bail his team out from a 2vs5 situation and help en route to a 6-3 scoreline.

Renegades once again found their footing towards the latter portion of the half, managing to briefly steal away the lead 8-7 at the break, but this time it was all MOUZ in the second half as they once again had a solid CT side showing, only conceding two rounds before forcing a series decider with a 16-10 win.

There, it was MOUZ who were firmly in the driver's seat, although this time around it was both ropz and frozen who helmed the effort. An 11-2 lead gave way to another 11-4 scoreline at halftime, but unlike on Mirage, MOUZ refused to let their large lead slip and were able to take things over the line in short order, closing it out 16-6.

The standings for the Challengers Stage ahead of the final three matches looks as follows: