G2 overcome MOUZ in new lineup's LAN debut

Poor second halves cost MOUZ dearly in their first outing without frozen.

G2 have secured victory in their first match with Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković in place of Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage, a 2-0 victory over MOUZ (Ancient 13-10, Vertigo 13-11).

MOUZ, who were using Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin as a stand-in after David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský's move to FaZe, suffered from ring rust on the T side of Ancient before facing a similar fate as G2 accelerated in the CT second half of Vertigo.

Read more

NiKo: "jks would be out of the team whether I left G2 or stayed"

"We didn't have the best result at CCT but this is a different playground," Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač told James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks after the match. "This is our place. We don't care what happened in the past."

The squad has come under fire for the decision to replace jks with nexa, but on debut the Serbian anchor played solidly and showcased some of the versatility that G2 signed him for.

A more pressing concern around G2 is around NiKo's performance in CS2, who has posted a 1.06 rating so far and just 0.86 in the series against MOUZ. "I don't really know [what's going on with my form]. I'm just grinding, it's all I can do," said NiKo. "It's been a tough transition but I'm putting in the hours."

G2's next test will be a sterner one against frozen's new team in the form of world No. 1 FaZe, in which G2 will hope to be able to count on their star rifler.

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier World Final 2023
14/12/2023	FaZe 14:25 G2	Match

Ancient began with blistering pace as G2 and Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen looked to put MOUZ and Brollan under pressure. The Danish skipper raced to 11 kills for just 2 deaths, making full use of the gameplan that was key to their victory on map one.

The half stabilized at 6-6, but once the sides flipped MOUZ's lack of practice showed with a dismal T half. Their scrimmy style played into G2's hands, as executes and pops were shut down with basic utility.

MOUZ immediately looked more comfortable on the T side of Vertigo, getting to an 8-2 lead as Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek started to flex his tactical muscles.

Again, however, they struggled once the halves switched. MOUZ entered the nightmare economical scenario of losing to the second round force buy at 9-5, and G2 went on a frightening run of rounds in which they denied MOUZ any financial security.

nexa was the man firing the streak, with back-to-back entries and a 1vs1 clutch helping G2 to close the gap.

A trademark Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov 1v2 was the final nail on the coffin as G2 secured the fourth 2-0 victory of day one at World Final.