MOUZ take down ENCE and advance to IEM Rio playoffs

MOUZ have reached the knockout stage of a Major for the first time since ELEAGUE Boston 2018.

MOUZ became the sixth team to claim a spot in the playoffs of IEM Rio Major 2022 after taking down ENCE 2-1. The young European mix secured a top-eight finish at the tournament after an undefeated run in the first phase of the event and a 3-2 run in the Legends Stage.

ENCE have been eliminated from the Major after starting their Brazilian campaign in the Legends Stage and suffering losses to fnatic and FURIA. The highlight of their run was the match against Vitality which resulted in a surprising 2-0 victory for Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer's men.

MOUZ started off the series against ENCE on Ancient's T side and quickly claimed the opening pistol round thanks to Jon "⁠JDC⁠" de Castro's triple kill on the B site. It was a map to forget for Snappi's men who only stole five rounds halfway through their defense, courtesy of a few impactful rounds from Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså. David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský and Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman led the way for the young European squad as they cruised to a 10-5 half.

frozen continued to torment ENCE after switching sides and accumulated a 2.56 CT rating while MOUZ swept through their defensive half. Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García failed to replicate his impeccable form from the Vitality series in the previous match, and was unable to find impact as his team conceded the map 5-16.

ENCE needed a convincing victory of their own to get back in the game, and they did exactly that on Nuke. Starting on the T side, the Snappi-led squad came out ahead in the opening pistol to take the early lead before a lengthy power outage in the arena caused a technical break. valde was fantastic after the match resumed, and led the way for ENCE as they dominated on the offense. A successful 3v5 B push secured the 11-4 half in favor of ENCE before halftime.

MOUZ stared off the second half strongly by taking three rounds in a row, but their early success did not translate into a comeback. It was not long until ENCE's CT side settled and closed the map with a 16-8 scoreline.

ENCE carried their momentum into the decider on Mirage with a strong defensive performance which resulted in a 7-1 lead. SunPayus was a pleasure to watch in the first half, but his performance was not enough to prevent MOUZ from salvaging a 7-8 scoreline.

MOUZ continued to deliver after switching to the defense and claimed their fourth pistol round of the series to keep up the pressure against ENCE. Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong was untouchable on the decider and topped the scoreboard with a 100.0% KAST and a 2.69 rating as his team sailed to victory. ENCE's flat T side struggled to leave a mark and only claimed one round before MOUZ claimed a 16-9 win.