B8 upset MOUZ at BLAST Paris Major Europe RMR

The Ukrainians, who earned an RMR berth through the open qualifier circuit, are now one step closer to a spot at the Major in Paris.

B8 earned the first upset of the BLAST.tv Paris Major Europe RMR after taking down MOUZ in their opening best-of-one matchup, 16-9.

The victory allows the Ukrainian troupe to advance straight to the 1-0 pool in Copenhagen, with their next opponent set to be decided at a later time.

MOUZ, on the other hand, will lament their less-than-ideal start to the Major qualifier and will instead look to stave off an early trip down to elimination territory in their next outing later on Thursday.

B8 continue to impress at Major qualifiers after narrowly missing out on making it to the IEM Rio Major — the most recent Valve-sponsored event — after going 2-3 in the Road to Rio Europe RMR A tournament back in October.

The squad haven't appeared on a LAN setting since then, but are already off to yet another strong start in Copenhagen and will look to keep the momentum going as the 16-team competition progresses.

The two teams' Regional Major Ranking campaigns began with a trip to Ancient, a battleground that was comfortable for both squads on paper — MOUZ sported a 67% win rate (six maps) over the past three months to B8's 71% (seven maps).

Alas, MOUZ, who are currently the 10th-best team in the world, got off to a false start on the Aztec-inspired map, allowing Mykhailo "⁠OWNER⁠" Lymar a comfortable 10-3 lead on the T-side.

MOUZ chipped in with instances of individual brilliance, but were otherwise outclassed by a team 32 spots beneath them on the world ranking. B8 stabilized after a slow start on the CT-side, putting up six rounds on the trot en route to a comfortable 16-9 victory to cast their European counterparts down to the 0-1 pool in Copenhagen.

---

Be sure to check out our dedicated BLAST.tv Paris Major hub here.