MOUZ defeat Complexity to make EPL grand final

MOUZ have followed up their second-place finish at IEM Chengdu with another grand final appearance.

MOUZ have booked a grand final bout with Vitality at ESL Pro League thanks to their 2-1 win over Complexity. The European side were outplayed on Vertigo (8-13), but bounced back with victories on Nuke (13-9) and Ancient (13-4).

With another grand final appearance now locked under their belts, MOUZ's young squad are going from strength to strength and proving to have a very high floor level. At IEM Chengdu their victory over G2 suggested their issues on stage are fading away, and in the studio environment of Pro League they look a fearsome beast. They now have the chance to defend the ESL Pro League title they won last year.

Complexity should be thrilled with their top-four finish, even if they were relatively soundly beaten today. Since their impressive run of form at the start of CS2 Complexity had waned, but they came roaring back in Malta with some powerful performances.

Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli stepped up to be a potent weapon in Complexity's arsenal and Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski was at his world-beating best for much of their Pro League campaign, resulting in wins over Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro that proved that the NA side can mix it with strong European squads.

hallzerk's resurgence was no more evident than on the first map of this series, as he powered Complexity to a winning Vertigo T-side when they faltered after a converted pistol win. The Norwegian then continued his stellar showing on the CT side, locking down ramp with his AUG and sealing a 1-0 series lead for his team.

Nuke was a different story. MOUZ came flying out of the blocks on their T side to pick up a 4-0 lead, only for EliGE to put up some monstrous multi-kills around Yard to haul the scores even. MOUZ took back control and slowly inched towards victory across the rest of the T half into their defensive effort, but not without Complexity putting themselves in some advantageous situations, only to squander them.

Ultimately some excellent work by Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás and Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman delivered MOUZ the rounds they needed to seal a 13-9 win to send the series to Ancient.

Ancient was the Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek show, the Polish IGL posting 17 first-half frags on his way to a 22 frag total and 1.99 rating. He commanded Cave and Lane throughout his team's CT half, battering Complexity away whenever they came knocking, and then put the final nail in the NA team's coffin with a 1v4 on the T side. The map finished 13-4 in MOUZ's favor.