MOUZ secure EPL playoff berth over FURIA

The European squad were comfortably the better side overall, eventually winning 2-0.

MOUZ confidently dispatched FURIA 2-0 to secure an ESL Pro League playoff spot, winning Mirage 16-12 and Ancient 16-9. MOUZ head to the upper bracket final and will await the winner of HEROIC vs BIG for a fight for a quarter-final berth. That match will go down March 5 at 16:00 . As for FURIA, they can look forward to a lower semi-final matchup with Movistar Riders.

This was a match between two teams who started 2023 in poor form: FURIA were unable to even make it through the IEM Katowice Play-in, whilst MOUZ crashed out of the main event in Katowice in joint-last place. Both started ESL Pro League in better shape, albeit against tier-two opposition, but it was MOUZ who were comfortably the better side as both teams clashed today.

MOUZ were a well-oiled machine throughout the game, getting impactful plays out of every single one of their players. Their progression towards the end of last year was incredibly promising for such a young team, and their early matches here at ESL Pro League suggest they are back on that path.

It seems FURIA need to head back to the drawing board, as they have been suffering a steady overall decline for some time now. Their overtly aggressive T-side shenanigans have been figured out by the top teams at this point, and backfire on them as often as they work. FURIA do still have every chance to make it out of this ESL Pro League group, but their play today against MOUZ was, at times, underwhelming.

The series began with Mirage, the pick of FURIA, and the Brazilians were made to regret their choice. They began on the T side and were utterly toothless offensively, MOUZ comfortable in repelling their opponents with potent crossfires time and time again. The few times FURIA did find an advantage in a round, they managed to shoot themselves in the foot; the second round was a prime example. FURIA did manage to cobble together a handful of rounds towards the end of the half, one by virtue of a deagle clutch from Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato, but it was only enough for a 4-11 scoreline.

A pistol win and conversion breathed some life into FURIA on their defense, but MOUZ eventually pushed through an execute onto the B site against a double-AWP setup from FURIA to strike back. FURIA managed to recover from the economic damage of losing the double-AWP and creep steadily towards parity, but at 12-13 down they lost to another B execute which spelled the beginning of the end. MOUZ duly picked up the couple of rounds needed to close the map 16-12.

FURIA came out swinging on the T side of Ancient, converting their pistol win and running out to a convincing 7-1 lead by pulling MOUZ all over the map and abusing their tendency to give up control of middle. A force-buy win grabbed MOUZ their second round and broke the FURIA economy, allowing the European squad to get to four, before a beautiful David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský 4k saved an impossible 2v5 and earned a fifth. This squandered opportunity seemed to deflate FURIA, and MOUZ carried the momentum all the way to an 8-7 half victory.

Jon "⁠JDC⁠" de Castro produced a 4k to win MOUZ their T pistol and from that point the European mix stormed to victory, repeatedly brushing aside FURIA’s defense with potent entry work and efficient trading all the way to a 16-9 score.