Falcons beat MOUZ to secure playoff spot in Cluj-Napoca

NiKo and company go through the Swiss stage with a 3-1 record to reach the arena.

Falcons came back from a map down to beat MOUZ 2-1 and secure a spot in the playoff spot of PGL Cluj-Napoca. It will be the first arena match for the new-look Falcons roster after an early exit at IEM Katowice earlier in the month.

Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski's troops once again got off to a slow start but improved as the match went on, turning the series around with fantastic T-side performances on Mirage and Ancient.

Date	Matches
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025
14/02/2025	Falcons Finished 2:0 FlyQuest	Match
15/02/2025	Falcons Finished 1:2 paiN	Match
16/02/2025	Falcons Finished 2:1 Astralis	Match
17/02/2025	MOUZ Finished 1:2 Falcons	Match

Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov raised eyebrows with a series-high 1.17 rating after producing his most impactful performance to date in a Falcons jersey, with René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen revealing that the team is trying to find ways to get him more involved in the game.

"He took an impact from the start of the year with how we did things," TeSeS said after the match. "He was not into things with his AWP and didn't have that many peeks or that much space. We could see, after a few tournaments, that we really needed to focus on him and give him more space."

Falcons make it to the arena

Heading into today's series, only one VRS spot separated the two teams, but questions remained about Falcons' ability to beat an elite side, even one that had recently gone through big changes.

Critics of the Falcons project could play down the victories over FlyQuest and Astralis as those are two teams still struggling for form in 2025, but kyxsan's troops looked a well-drilled unit against MOUZ, even after losing Dust2, which had been their strongest map.

With degster and Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač leading the charge, Falcons outfought their opponents on Mirage and Ancient to lock up a much-needed playoff spot in Cluj-Napoca, all the while leapfrogging MOUZ in the VRS.

"I think so," TeSeS said when asked if his team is trending in the right direction. "We go day by day and we feel that we're improving. But somehow we always struggle a lot on the first map. We're really slow to get started."

MOUZ in trouble in Bucharest

MOUZ came into Dust2 with a solid game plan and countered Falcons almost to perfection, finding the right timings on numerous occasions. They ended Falcons' win streak on the map, and the scoreline could have been even more one-sided if it had not been for TeSeS, who had eight multi-kills in the game, six more than anyone else in the team.

They carried that momentum into Mirage and enjoyed a commanding 6-1 lead, but then fell flat on the CT side, where Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás was the only player delivering. And on Ancient, their horrible 0-8 start to the game proved too much to come back from.

MOUZ will have one more opportunity on Tuesday to get out of the Swiss stage and reach the playoffs, but the manner in which they lost today should be sending all kinds of warning signs. They have their backs against the wall as they drop down to the 2-2 pool in Bucharest.