Astralis reverse-sweep MOUZ, reach IEM Cologne semi-final

The Danes' next challenge comes in the form of Natus Vincere.

Kicking off the playoffs at this year's IEM Cologne was the quarter-final matchup between Astralis and MOUZ, with the Danish side emerging victorious three hard-fought maps later. Astralis dropped Mirage 8-16, took their map pick of Nuke, 16-9, and completed the reverse sweep with a 16-12 win on Ancient.

The result sets the Danes up for a high-stakes match against Natus Vincere in the semi-final, where the winner will move on to the grand final of the million-dollar tournament.

Although MOUZ's run in Cologne ends in the first round of the playoffs, they finish in 5-6th place, which marks their highest Big Event placing of the year so far. Their journey through the competition was nothing short of exceptional, putting up a tremendous effort in their 1-2 losses to Astralis and Natus Vincere while dispatching of higher-ranked opposition in HEROIC, Vitality, and Ninjas in Pyjamas along the way.

The first map of the series was extremely competitive off the bat, with MOUZ pulling off a full-eco conversion in the third round and a crucial Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander triple-kill in the sixth as both sides reached a 3-3 stalemate. MOUZ were then able to gain a small 6-3 lead thanks to their B site pushes, blowing through any resistance Astralis put in place.

gla1ve's crew were able to score back-to-back rounds to bring them within one, but MOUZ's opening kills courtesy of Jon "⁠JDC⁠" de Castro and Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong overwhelmed the Astralis defense, as the European mix hit double-digits and entered the switch up 10-5. Coming out of halftime, MOUZ delivered a statement performance on their CT side as they rolled to a 16-8 win on their map pick by shutting Astralis' site advances down, securing important clutches and eco rounds, and eventually picking up the 1-0 series lead.

Astralis opened up Nuke with a solid attacking side display, constantly switching up their playstyle between fast and slow-paced en route to a 7-2 score, with Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer and Asger "⁠Farlig⁠" Jensen's nine and eight kills leading the way. Despite their slow start, MOUZ were able to score four of the half's last six rounds to reduce their gap to three, highlighted by an electrifying AWP triple-kill from Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás in the 12th.

A three-for-three exchange got the second half underway, with Farlig dropping a triple-kill in the 17th for Astralis and dexter hitting a crucial ace for his team in the 20th, giving MOUZ a much-needed momentum boost. Within arm's reach of victory, the Danes wasted no time in closing out Nuke 16-9 behind Farlig's 24 kills, extending the series and ultimately forcing a decider on Ancient.

Just like the first map, Ancient started off with a 3-3 scoreline with both teams trading three-round sprees. Astralis proceeded to take a narrow 5-3 lead and were looking good to secure their sixth until JDC singlehandedly put an end to the Danes' B site retake, armed with nothing more than a Tec-9 in a 1vs4 situation. The ninth round clutch would be a turning point for MOUZ, as they capitalized off of Astralis' economic and weapon disadvantages and closed out the first half with a 9-6 lead.

After swapping sides, Astralis were able to match MOUZ's lead at nine apiece, however the European mix squad fought valiantly to keep the Danes from taking control of the game as they went back-and-forth for the subsequent rounds, with the in-game leaders dexter and gla1ve stepping up massively for their respective teams in both fragging and shotcalling. In the end, Astralis were able to overcome everything MOUZ threw their way with a 16-12 Ancient win, pulling off the reverse-sweep and booking their spot in the semi-final.