MOUZ maul ENCE to earn semi-final berth

MOUZ's young squad have gone from strength to strength in Poland.

MOUZ utterly outclassed ENCE to seal a semi-final spot at IEM Katowice, taking a 2-0 victory thanks to comfortable wins on Vertigo (13-5) and Ancient (13-3).

There was very little to analyze deeply in that series; MOUZ were simply the better team, both as individuals and as a unit. Perhaps the only takeaway is the continued good form of Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin, who has integrated seamlessly into a youthful side and returned to the levels he showed before his fruitless time in Ninjas in Pyjamas.

It could definitely be argued that MOUZ had a relatively kind route to the semi-finals: they played an ailing Cloud9 and sub-top 15 squads GamerLegion and ENCE. Regardless MOUZ did what was needed on each occasion and got better with each series, leading to this complete demolition of ENCE. They will hope to continue their ascension when they inevitably have to play better-ranked sides later in the competition.

ENCE's victories over Vitality and G2 may have turned heads as their level seemed to far exceed the personnel at their disposal, but today they were unceremoniously yanked back down to Earth. Whether this is a return to the mean or an aberration will become clear in the playoffs, but for now ENCE should be concerned at how comprehensively they were outplayed on their home map, Vertigo.

ENCE now head forward to a quarter-final matchup with Falcons, pitting the organization against their old core, whilst MOUZ will await the winner of FaZe vs. G2 in the semi-finals.

Vertigo opened the series and ENCE actually started well on the offensive side of their map choice, their excellent mid-round decision-making serving them well. A Brollan Five-Seven flank turned a half-buy on its head, however, and allowed MOUZ to recover. They never looked back, racking up 11 rounds in a row to claim a 1-0 series lead.

Ancient was never even competitive: MOUZ simply blew ENCE off the server. The MOUZ individuals were taking off heads for fun, Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek was making the right call every time, and as such MOUZ sealed a semi-final berth with ease.