frozen: "This was a good confidence boost, [winning] against Virtus.pro"

"We need to show up with the same mindset that we did today and just be ice-cold killing everyone," David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský said of MOUZ's final series of RMR A.

MOUZ came into the European RMR as one of the four pre-tournament favorites. The team failed to justify their standing in the opening few matches and soon found themselves in the 1-2 pool after losses to B8 and Falcons. The next challenge for the European combine was another underperforming favorite, Virtus.pro, and it was a crucial game as the losing team would be eliminated from the tournament.

The game against the reigning Major champions went about as well as possible for MOUZ, limiting their opponents to single-digit scores on both maps to comfortably sail to the 2-2 pool, played on Sunday.

After their triumph, HLTV sat down with frozen to discuss their best-of-one woes, the game against Aleksandr "⁠KaiR0N-⁠" Anashkin-less Virtus.pro, and their confidence going into the final match.

Huge win against Virtus.pro. This was the match of the day, no doubt, between two of the best teams here. What are the first impression after the match? It seemed like maybe it would be a brawl, but ended it up going very well for you.

I mean, I'm obviously happy that we won, but the job is not done and yeah, we'll see tomorrow. Then the real emotion is going to come, but for now, we've just got to focus on what's ahead of us. It was a good match, we were favored most of the time, I think. And yeah, they swapped a player right before the match. I didn't know what's up there, I guess they didn't figure themselves out and we did this match.

Yeah, that was something I wanted to ask as well. They just made a crazy change in the middle of an RMR, something unheard of before. So I guess that speaks to where they're at, but how did you go into it? Was it kind of shocking?

I mean, we kind of thought that they're going to just swap back what they basically played last year at the Major and I think pretty much they did almost one-to-one swaps. I think only on Ancient there was some different player positions, but yeah, we didn't overthink it. It was their decision after all and yeah, we were just kind of benefiting from it. I guess maybe there's some struggles, whatever is going on there, I don't know. But yeah, I'm just glad that we won it.

As you said, maybe it was going to be a one-to-one swap. But you guys know that team, right? You guys played against them back in Rio, and this time you guys came out on top. So how did that feel?

Actually, I was talking to JDC the other night and that's basically what I told him, that it's revenge. They beat us from the Major and I think all the pressure was on them in this match. They're Major winners, they need to get to the Major again. We just showed up with the balls today.

Tell me a little bit about that because this was an elimination match, right? 1-2 could have gone 1-3. You guys are kind of expected to now be one of those teams that can clear an RMR and make it to the Major. So what was it like getting into that 1-2 pool? Were there some nerves?

I think there was a lot of factors. Nerves, I think they were one of the biggest factors, as well. And, yeah just facing kind of underdog teams we think that we should win against, it's something we can definitely look at. And yeah, as you said, we should maybe already be qualified by now, but we made it hard for ourselves and now we've just got to dig ourselves out of it, basically.

So best-of-ones are always kind of chaotic, but it's also what we see every time, every RMR. So many upsets in best-of-ones. How do you feel now that you got through what may be the hardest part, which is both the best-of-ones and a match against VP. Now you go into that 2-2 match, that final match, maybe feeling a little bit better?

I mean, it feels better, right? Like, you play BO3, you have more chances. Maybe if you're not so sharp first game, then you still have two more maps to kind of come back. But,yeah, it feels nice to be at the BO3s already. BO1s, it's like, it is what it is. If you don't get a good start, maybe they'll win some pistols, other team gets it rolling. Yeah, it feels good to be at the BO3s already, especially now. I think this was a good confidence boost, against Virtus.pro, so yeah, I'm just looking forward to tomorrow.

Ever since xertioN came into the team you got some roles that have been good for you. Individually you're continuing to put on these big performances and you're playing very well. How's your confidence been growing during these past few months and getting you to the point you're at now?

Me as an individual, I'm always like a confidence-based player. I have my own things that I do, like schedules, whatever, but I think the whole team in general makes me feel basically confident in my roles and in what I can do, and everybody believes if I say something or whatever. So, yeah, I feel like I have support behind myself, and it just feels good.

Like you said earlier, the job is not done yet and there's still the [2-2] match, but do you guys feel like it's yours to win now? Like you're one of the strongest teams that are in this pool? You beat a team like Virtus.pro, how's your confidence going into this final pool with the teams that are around you?

If we want to go to the Major, then basically we got to beat everyone or anyone who gets put against us. At this point, maybe it feels like we should come out on top, but I think we need to show up with the same mindset that we did today and just be ice-cold killing everyone. Just killer instinct.