MOUZ's teamplay overcomes G2's individuals in statement arena win

MOUZ's usual arena jitters were nowhere to be found as they ended G2's run early.

MOUZ have broken their arena curse by defeating G2 in convincing 2-0 fashion.

G2 came into the game red hot favorites after dominating the lower bracket of Group A, even beating world No. 2 Spirit 13-3 and 13-1.

But their individuals were shut down by the superior system and teamplay of Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek and Dennis "⁠sycrone⁠" Nielsen's MOUZ squad.

MOUZ, with an average age of 20.9, are by far the youngest team out of the six teams consistently contending for titles in 2024 and have earned a reputation for strong studio form but coming unstuck in the arenas. In Cologne, they are trying to leave that reputation behind them and have started strongly.

siuhy and company's next challenge is a squad more similar to themselves, in the form of Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen and Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy's Natus Vincere.

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2024
17/08/2024	Natus Vincere 19:00 MOUZ	Match

"We prepared a long time ago for this game," siuhy told the desk. "We put in a lot of work out of the server. We wanted to win a game on stage, a lot of hard work went into this game, and it paid off."

That preparation even extended to a special facility at MOUZ's headquarters in Hamburg. "We have some interesting options there" explained sycrone, "Stage lights, a tribune, different things to recreate a similar real stage scenario."

Clip: Jimpphat 1v2 strikes life into MOUZ

Whatever their preparation was, it worked. G2's individuals turned up in key moments, with a Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač double on the P250 and a Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski triple on the Five-SeveN giving them two key CT rounds on Dust2 and Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov ending the series on 42 frags.

But in the more conventional gun rounds, siuhy had G2's number and put together a five-round streak on T side to go from 8-8 to a 13-8 win.

Remarkably, MOUZ won just eight opening duels compared to G2's 14 on Dust2, but still came away with the win.

The theme of siuhy's calling outdoing G2 continued on Mirage, as MOUZ lost both pistols but still secured a 7-5 T half and ended the game in another streak, this time of six CT rounds, as G2 won zero buy-v-buy rounds in the second half of either map.

Clip: Snax taps away on B to win 3v5

"They were just better," admitted Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač to Eefje "⁠sjokz⁠" Depoortere post-game. "We were not decisive. We hesistated a lot about each other, lost some important rounds that broke our momentum."

It was also a disappointing match on a personal note, with NiKo in incredible form in groups as he took aim at a second consecutive IEM Cologne MVP but ended the quarter-final on a 0.86 rating. "I played poorly as well, I just couldn't get into the game," he said.

It was also a match to forget for new signing Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa, who has shone for G2 in new roles but came unstuck in his first ever big stage appearance.

After a strong start on T side on Dust2, he struggled on CT side on both maps and let his frustration out after being bested by Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo in a 1v1 late on Mirage.

Clip: Jimpphat prompts a desk slam from malbsMd after 1v1

The story of the match, though, was MOUZ's teamplay and preparation shining through — with Anchor of the Year frontrunner Jimpphat especially impressive.

"All [of G2's] individuals are shining," sycrone said pre-game. "But they're going up against a team today, and we're gonna push them."

Post-match, with Oliver "⁠OJ Borg⁠" D'Anastasi, Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás was asked how far MOUZ could go. The Hungarian AWPer replied simply, just pointing at the trophy down the catwalk from him. MOUZ are two wins away from making that come true.