xertioN on Brollan: "I feel like he has the balls of a leader in some way already"

The Israeli rifler credited MOUZ's new captain as a major factor in MOUZ's 4-12 Inferno comeback.

Serving as MOUZ's first event with Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin in-game leading with the team's full five, including new addition Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi, PGL Cluj-Napoca was set to be an important test for the young international side.

Brollan's men have far exceeded expectations in Romania. A 2-0 start in the Swiss group stage nearly became a 2-3 exit, but MOUZ rallied in their 2-2 match against Virtus.pro to reach playoffs. The team's fortunes have continued in the arena, besting paiN and Astralis to land a place in the grand final, the team's first since IEM Rio in October 2024.

Shortly after his team's win over Astralis in PGL Cluj-Napoca's semi-finals, Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman sat down with HLTV to discuss Brollan's transition to the in-game leader role, the feeling of making a grand final so soon after making changes, and his preference for opponent between Falcons and FaZe.

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You've made the grand final, your first after IEM Rio. How do you feel right now?

As you said, it felt like it was a long time ago. After we won, I instantly said, 'It feels good to be back.' Hopefully this time the result will be different, but I'm really proud of how we played today, despite being down a lot on the first map.

I wanted to ask about the first map. In the group stage, it felt like you guys were the ones dropping big leads, but this time it was the other way around, as you were 4-12 down on Inferno. How did you make that comeback happen?

I think we just have some really good resilience now. We see it every time we had some rough starts in this tournament, we've shown that we have great character. I'm really happy about it, but also at the same time, I would have liked to play a bit better on the Inferno CT side.

I didn't do a good job on that map especially, but I'm just really happy we managed to do it. I think Lotan [Spinx] was playing amazing, and also Brollan was calling out of his mind, so I'm really happy with how we managed to come back into it. We are a new team, and to come back from such a deficit in a semi-final means a lot.

Touching on Brollan's calling. You made the comeback on the T-side, so he probably played a huge part. How satisfied are you with his adaptation to calling?

Of course, it's still early, but until now, he has done a great job. He's improved a lot, he's super open to feedback, but also at the same time, I feel like he has the balls of a leader in some way already, which I really like. We were losing, and every call he made seemed like we were going to win it.

I feel like slowly, when we started winning more rounds, it felt more and more real. I think everyone did a good job, but especially him and our coach kept us in the game, and the good timeouts and leadership from him showed today.

In another interview, you mentioned that you have more of a vocal role now. Did you help him build a game plan for that comeback?

Of course, sometimes I give ideas, but I think on Inferno I was a bit out of the game, to be honest, especially on the CT side. I basically trolled our CT in a lot of ways, so something to look [out] for. At the beginning of the T-side, it came a lot from him and his calling, Spinx giving us a lot of entries, and clutches from torzsi. And slowly, let's say when we were like 12-8, I started helping a bit with the calls maybe. But at the end of the day, I think that it was always his work, he did a really good job today.

MOUZ were previously named as a team that struggles in the arena, but I think you've shown at recent tournaments that you're ramping up in that aspect. Is this even better now that you've added Spinx? He's a Major winner, and he's got loads of experience.

Yeah, for sure, there's no doubt that he gives a lot of calmness. I think he's super nice and also super experienced, as you said, so it helps a lot. But everyone can say what they want about our team, they can speculate and make the big picture however they want it to be. Stage chokers, and then we're not, and then we are again. For me, that doesn't matter.

I think that the results show themselves, and we just have to prove to ourselves that we're able to play on stage, that we're able to win a tournament like now. As much as there is no pressure because we're still a new team, we want to go tomorrow and win that final.

Talking about tomorrow's final. Did you expect to be able to win this event, given that it's your first tournament with Spinx and Brollan as the IGL?

Of course we hoped, but I wouldn't say expected. We didn't know where the team was. We made a roster move, it's our first tournament together, and we also didn't have that much practice compared to other teams because we made a roster change late into the start of the season.

We came here to see what we are able to do, but as my coach always highlights, we have been improving game by game, and I think that's the thing teams should be scared of the most. We also showed that last season, we were super consistent, and hopefully this season we will reach new heights. I'm really happy with our growth, and hopefully, we can take the final step tomorrow as well.

Tomorrow, it's FaZe or Falcons. Do you have a preference about who you would like to face?

Well, I would like to face both teams for different reasons. FaZe because they've had our number a little bit in the past, then we won against them, then they beat us as well. I'm just looking forward to facing them.

If we face Falcons, we should get revenge, because they beat us in the group stage, and I think that they played better than us in that game, to be honest. We have good matchups against both and have a reason to be fired up, and I think that they are both great teams. They both have new lineups just like us. We will see how it goes, it will be a really good match.