MOUZ secure revenge on G2 for the Chengdu grand final

siuhy's young side overcame their playoff demons for their first grand final since adding Brollan.

MOUZ are into the grand finals of IEM Chengdu after overcoming G2 2-1 (Nuke 13-8, Ancient 7-13, Overpass 13-10) in a tight series.

The squad have sailed through every group stage in 2024 thus far but found tougher waters in playoffs, and were under pressure to replicate their best selves in the arena.

Their opponent, G2, stomped them in PGL Major Copenhagen's quarter-final — albeit with MOUZ affected by fans rushing onto the stage — but this time Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek and company passed the test with flying colors.

The series ebbed and flowed, but when it came to crunch time MOUZ put together a stellar T-side from 6-8 down on Overpass to banish their demons and secure a grand final.

G2 used to ban the map not too long ago, and Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov and Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač looked uncomfortable on the A site under the test of MOUZ's well-oiled defaults. But take nothing away from MOUZ, who easily could have crumbled after losing both pistols.

They now await the result from the other semi-final, but Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás was clear post-game: "I want to play FaZe."

Nuke opened with Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen utilizing fast-paced calling to heap the pressure onto MOUZ, but G2 came undone midway through the half under a barrage of frags from torzsi and Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo.

That injection of quality was exactly what MOUZ needed, and as the halves flipped NiKo was completely locked out of Outside. Only a HooXi ace threatened to awake G2, and MOUZ ran out convincing victors.

That meant MOUZ went into their pick of Ancient as favorites, but as the pressure shifted onto their shoulders their performance dipped. Only a Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin 1v1 clutch — despite the pro-G2 crowd giving away his position — and a B rush offered in-roads for their T side early on.

As they slowed the pace down, MOUZ grew back into the game for 6-6, but that only provided a short respite as G2 ran away on their own T side for a 13-7 win.

There were wobbles for HooXi's side, including dropping to a 2v5 against Five-SeveNs, but Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač recovered the round with a quad-kill and m0NESY secured the round, with the crowd's assistance again, in the 1v1.

The decider was Overpass, where MOUZ have won their last five bouts, but again G2 had the stronger start. NiKo, good in pistol rounds all series, found four kills including a 1HP 1v1 clutch but G2, with the exception of a classic m0NESY 1v3, struggled in gun rounds afterwards, with MOUZ recovering to 6-6 at the half.

huNter- matched NiKo with a 4K of his own in the second pistol, leaving G2 8-6 up on the much-favored CT side of Overpass. But in the gun rounds, MOUZ once again looked the more mature side.

NiKo was caught off guard on timings in A Toilets, and economy troubles meant m0NESY only had the AWP twice — finding no kills on both occasions — all CT half. m0NESY's deaths, both unforced errors on two crucial swing rounds, later proved all-important.

Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković could have turned the game back G2's way by sneaking up on Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman in a 1v1 on a force buy late on, but whiffed the duel to allow the MOUZ machine to roll into their first grand final of 2024.