xertioN shines as MOUZ qualify for BLAST Paris Major; FaZe in last chance qualifier

The Israeli talent put up eye-watering numbers in MOUZ's 2-2 matchup versus FaZe to earn his team a BLAST.tv Paris Major berth.

MOUZ guaranteed their participation at the BLAST.tv Paris Major, scheduled for May 8-21, following a three-map victory over FaZe in the 2-2 pool of the RMR A tournament.

Natus Vincere
GamerLegion
Bad News Eagles
FURIA
OG

fnatic
Into the Breach
paiN
Grayhound
MOUZ

MOUZ put up a 3-2 record en route to securing a place at CS:GO's last Major. They ended the first day of play with a 1-1 showing following an upset loss to B8 and a win versus SAW. From there, the side were bested by Falcons, featuring MOUZ's former teammate of Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt, but a win over Virtus.pro got the European combine back on track and require just one win over FaZe to nab a spot at the Major.

xertioN went nuclear in the Major-qualifying series versus FaZe

MOUZ were by far the better team once the Major-qualifying series began on Nuke, marching forward with a dominant and stalwart CT-side to nurture a 10-5 lead at the interval, before putting the map to bed with plenty of rounds to spare once on the T-side, 16-8.

A comfortable rebuttal from FaZe on Ancient (16-9) came through to force an Inferno decider, but it was MOUZ who narrowly came out on top in an overtime affair, 19-15, to wrap up the series and make it to the Parisian Major.

The Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong-led lineup owe a large amount of their thanks to Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman, who continuously went above and beyond the call of duty throughout the series. The Israeli rifler sat at the top of the scoreboard with 80 kills, 96 ADR, and a 1.43 rating, 25 kills higher than Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás (1.06 rating), his closest-performing teammate.

"It feels amazing," xertioN responded when asked about how it feels to qualify for another Major. "Of course, I had a good game, but we played well as a team. I think we never gave up, some clutches went their way, some clutches went our way.

"It was a crazy match, we anticipated it; I said it in the pre-game interview too. I'm so glad we came out on top and I'm just extremely happy."

BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Europe RMR ABest of 3

FaZe

Matchpage

1

2

9th April 2023

MOUZ

8

Nuke

16

16

Ancient

9

15

Inferno

19

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	61 - 57	+4	78.2	81.9%	1.16
Helvijs 'broky' Saukantsbroky	63 - 55	+8	78.9	73.5%	1.16
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	56 - 56	0	83.1	68.7%	1.13
Robin 'ropz' Koolropz	60 - 53	+7	72.9	71.1%	1.06
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	35 - 59	-24	50.7	66.3%	0.72

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Dorian 'xertioN' BermanxertioN	80 - 58	+22	96.4	77.1%	1.43
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsástorzsi	55 - 50	+5	66.4	72.3%	1.06
David 'frozen' Čerňanskýfrozen	52 - 56	-4	72.7	75.9%	1.02
Christopher 'dexter' Nongdexter	49 - 62	-13	67.4	69.9%	0.91
Jon 'JDC' de CastroJDC	42 - 49	-7	64.5	66.3%	0.90

The loss and subsequent relegation to the last chance stage will undoubtedly come as a bitter blow to FaZe. The European outfit came into the Danish LAN event as the highest-rated side following their first-place and Intel Grand Slam-winning triumph at ESL Pro League Season 17 in March, while also being atop HLTV's power ranking ahead of the Major qualifier.

Regardless, the No. 2 roster were unable to do good on their initial 2-0 start, and their Major-attending aspirations now rely on a successful campaign through the do-or-die last chance qualifier, which runs over two days on April 14-15.

Group Swiss

3W - 0L

Natus Vincere

fnatic

3W - 1L

Into the Breach

Bad News Eagles

GamerLegion

3W - 2L

Apeks

OG

MOUZ

2W - 3L

Falcons

FaZe

B8

1W - 3L

Sprout

1win

Virtus.pro

0W - 3L

SAW

Viperio