Vitality secure IEM Winter playoff spot, Astralis eliminate MOUZ

2-12-2021 21:33

The French team didn’t fret with a dominant 2-0 victory over Ninjas in Pyjamas as Astralis sent Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong and his men home.

Vitality took out Ninjas in Pyjamas in the IEM Winter Group A semi-final to secure a playoff spot at the event in Stockholm after defeating MOUZ in their opener, and they will next play the winner of G2 vs. Liquid for the top seed in the group.

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut shined in Vitality’s victory on Inferno, breaking the 2.00 rating barrier with a 2.13, but it was Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire and Jayson "⁠Kyojin⁠" Nguyen Van who took over on Mirage to get their team over the line 2-0.

Vitality will now fight to make it straight to the semi-finals

Astralis, meanwhile, live to fight another day after their opening loss to Ninjas in Pyjamas, as they creamed MOUZ in the first elimination match. Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander and company won a one-sided Ancient, which they took 16-6, before bringing it home on their map pick of Nuke, 16-10.

Up next for the Danes will be the loser of the aforementioned G2 vs. Liquid match in the second round of the Group A lower bracket, a series that will give the winner one last shot at making the playoffs in the LB final.

Astralis bounced back after their opening loss to NIP

Vitality and Ninjas in Pyjamas went at it on the Scandinavian team’s map pick of Inferno to start things off, but it was actually the Frenchmen who threw their weight around starting on the CT side and winning a second round forcebuy before dominating 12-3. Ninjas in Pyjamas won the all-important second pistol round to stay alive, but that would be pretty much it, as Vitality cruised to a 16-6 victory.

apEX and company then got off to a 4-0 lead on Mirage, with the French in-game leader spearheading his team’s attack while Ninjas in Pyjamas struggled to keep up. The Swedes were only able to win four rounds of their own in the half before winning the second pistol round cleanly, after which they once again threatened the possibility of a comeback but fell short of even reaching double digits, 9-16.

IEM Winter 2021Best of 3

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Matchpage

2nd December 2021

Vitality

Inferno

Mirage

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora Plopski	31 - 34	-3	74.6	72.3%	0.95
Nicolai 'device' Reedtz device	29 - 37	-8	70.8	55.3%	0.85
Patrick 'es3tag' Hansen es3tag	27 - 35	-8	67.0	63.8%	0.82
Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner REZ	25 - 38	-13	66.6	63.8%	0.78
Hampus 'hampus' Poser hampus	26 - 40	-14	60.9	51.1%	0.72

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut ZywOo	46 - 25	+21	96.1	76.6%	1.55
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire apEX	42 - 32	+10	109.0	74.5%	1.44
Jayson 'Kyojin' Nguyen Van Kyojin	35 - 29	+6	74.6	76.6%	1.09
Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabier misutaaa	29 - 29	0	74.4	76.6%	1.09
Richard 'shox' Papillon shox	31 - 24	+7	68.3	68.1%	1.08

The elimination match between Astralis and MOUZ kicked off on Ancient, where the Danes got off to a commanding position on the defense, winning round after round after a 3-2 start all the way to a 13-2 half. The international squad won the second pistol round to stay alive, but only momentarily as gla1ve and company took the map 16-6.

Astralis took the lead with an A hit in the opening pistol round of Nuke, after which they continued to set the pace in the series winning round after round to an 8-2 lead. MOUZ then put in a few round of their own, but couldn’t stop the Danish squad from hitting double digits before the half. Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and company then fought their way back into the match, but were unable to turn things around falling 10-16.

IEM Winter 2021Best of 3

Astralis

Matchpage

2nd December 2021

MOUZ

Ancient

Nuke

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer blameF	38 - 24	+14	87.7	81.2%	1.38
Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth Xyp9x	37 - 23	+14	84.7	83.3%	1.37
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander gla1ve	33 - 25	+8	70.6	75.0%	1.15
Philip 'Lucky' Ewald Lucky	36 - 29	+7	68.1	70.8%	1.11
Kristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke k0nfig	23 - 32	-9	65.5	62.5%	0.79

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Robin 'ropz' Kool ropz	37 - 31	+6	74.7	75.0%	1.07
Frederik 'acoR' Gyldstrand acoR	31 - 34	-3	65.1	72.9%	0.97
David 'frozen' Čerňanský frozen	26 - 31	-5	68.9	62.5%	0.95
Christopher 'dexter' Nong dexter	20 - 36	-16	53.6	62.5%	0.74
Aurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras Bymas	19 - 35	-16	46.0	56.2%	0.63

Nice

2021-12-02 21:34

10 replies

mouz disband pls

2021-12-02 23:01

9 replies

Mouz +torszi +emi

2021-12-03 00:30

7 replies

Because -ropz is probably going to happen within the next 6 months, there will be some bigger changes coming into play (depending on how much mouz is willing to spend) so: -ropz (as he's undoubtedly going to leave the team) -acor (as this team cannot provide a system that allows him to shine) +jks +sterling (because I really want mouz nxt to say together for now, they've been improving rapidly) Then the team still has a solid lurker, a star rifler in frozen (which they can build the team around), a solid piece in bymas and a potentially good awper in sterling. Ofc some of these pieces are unproven and we'd have to see how dexter's calling would shape up, but azr is always waiting in the wings if necessary lol

2021-12-03 00:52

6 replies

fakeflag, you are really australian

2021-12-03 04:49

1 reply

I am thankful I'm not. I just can't think of another lurker off the top of my head that mouz could pick up for free/ practically nothing

2021-12-03 07:28

Wow, looks pretty sick but all depends on Frozen's form

2021-12-03 06:06

3 replies

I'd say it depends more on sterling and dexter, actually. The two biggest problems mouz have been facing is their awper not slotting into their system at all and dexter's calling/ the teams' tactics being subpar. Frozen doesn't have to be a top10 player if both of those factors aren't as much of a problem anymore, esp. if jks is holding ~1.10 rating and bymas ~1.05 (which I am sure they can manage, given the right roles) Of course, -acor +torzsi makes more sense monetarily (as much as it pains me to say it), and jks re-connecting with the boys make more sense on his end, too. Imagine jks azr jkaem bntet and say, poizon for example. That'd be cool too!

2021-12-03 07:40

2 replies

I think that ex-100T/Renegades core is outdated and won't be as good as it was. Also i really don't wanna see torzsi out of NXT roster, they're pretty good as a team and it's hilarious to see 'em progressing.

2021-12-03 08:28

Aye, I don't want to see mouz NXT get scalped either, but it looks like it's in the cards. If it does happen and mouz is smart, w0nderful is a free agent and would be an insane replacement though As for 100T boys, I only mentioned them because I feel as if they still have some good CS left to give; Extremum did poorly mainly because of grat and liazz being dead weight 99% of the time, while jkaem azr and especially jkaem were still playing/ calling well. Throw in a decent rifler + awper into that and I wouldn't be surprised if they reached top30, hell even top20

2021-12-03 09:42

Vitality: -misutaa +ropz

2021-12-03 02:04

nice

ZywOo king

Sad for MOUZ. Maybe it’s about time they make some changes, or ropz comes to his senses and gives his talent to an organization that actually could win something.

Ropz really deserves a better squad than this current Mouz lineup. I have been a fan of Mouz since the 1.6 days, would be sad to see him leave, but it is a case of when, not if. Same thing happened with NiKo back in the day. Fingers crossed they get rid of Bymas and acoR and replace them with people who can actually consistently frag.

2021-12-02 21:39

Mousesports have so much history. I usually support players and not orgs but mouz have always been my favourite org since the johnnyr/Jonas b days. But I feel like now with their new name, new logo I can say goodbye. They've had a few different era's with some great line-ups over the years but those days are long gone. GL to ropz in the future

2021-12-02 21:53

yeah, the new logo came out of nowhere - I didn't think there was a need for that particular change, some marketing manager wanted to justify their job I think. Like you, I am finding it hard to stand behind and support an org that seems to systematically make boneheaded decisions, both inside and outside of the server.

2021-12-02 22:15

If you are selling socks, you want to make the impression that your socks are modern and suitable for the needs of 2020s. If you are an esports organization you want to make the impression that your team has some heritage. Changing the name and logo indicates that this organization probably does not even exist in 6 months or so. What you wrote about the marketing manager hits the nail. Maybe it is not true in this case, but unfortunately it seems that is the world we live in.

2021-12-02 23:31

stick to ur team, in good and bad times. lets wait for 2022, when the team is most likely doing some changes cuz right now it doesnt look like they are enjoying playing. prolly cuz they know it wont be long term.

2021-12-03 12:22

you trooling Bymas win fun plx 40k for team and nowdays just need drop dexter acor and coch vs vitalyti unlucky but insane game wp vaMouz

2021-12-02 22:20

4 replies

can you try that again, it made zero sense.

2021-12-03 00:23

Bymas good player, acor and dexter are shit

2021-12-03 00:33

Dexter is not a bad IGL, but a dominant AWPer is key to being a top team nowadays. Gambit has sh1ro, Vitality have Zywoo, and Na’Vi have s1mple. MOUZ need a really sick AWPer, so having torzi in your academy roster is huge.

2021-12-03 04:19

thanks for the clarification. I think that Bymas and acoR are Mouz's biggest problems right now. They have incredible highs, but also some unforgivable lows - acoR in particular seems to be off his game more often than not as of late. i know these people are young and still working on improving their game and confidence levels, but this is the top echelon of CS we're talking about, teams need players that can perform, consistently. to a lesser extent the same thing can be said about Dexter, but you don't normally see your IGL topfragging.

2021-12-03 16:49

mousesports :(

2021-12-02 21:37

MOUZ is hopeless. Disband already, pls.

2021-12-02 21:38

Xyp is back! ♥️

Xyp9x was so good today. Just beasting in the clutches. Even his aim and crosshair placement, which have been not so crisp recently, seemed amazing today. Was such a great game to watch. Missed k0nfig fragging out though. Hope to get them all back in shape soon.

2021-12-02 21:42