MOUZ overcome Brollan captaincy doubts with PGL Cluj-Napoca trophy

A serendipitous honeymoon with Spinx ended with a trophy lift for the team that struggled in front of crowds for much of 2024.

MOUZ have been crowned champions of PGL Cluj-Napoca following a 3-1 victory over Falcons, crushing uncertainty and doubt around Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin taking over leadership duties with a trophy lift at the team's first event with Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi.

It is the organization's first arena event win in six years and the culmination of a long hunt for an arena trophy for the core of Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman, Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás, and Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo, who won studio events with Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek but could never get the job done on stage until today.

Falcons were marred early in the series by sullen showings from Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov and Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif and handicapped at the end by Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač, who went 2:9 in opening duels on Ancient after repeatedly being caught out and demolished in Middle for a dejected end to his otherwise excellent and MVP-worthy event.

Brollan vindicated

It has been nigh on impossible to drown the noise around siuhy's removal and Brollan taking over leadership duties, probably for none more so than the young Swede.

Despite clips from when Brollan was 14 surfacing where he said being an in-game leader was "a part of him," there was immense doubt about MOUZ's ability to stay on track as a championship-contending team without the captain who seemed to have been so integral in their rise.

Early doubters piled on after MOUZ went out of IEM Katowice in last place, but criticism for that showing was hard to justify when the team had to play the event with an academy player in place of Spinx.

Brollan silenced that constant drone once leading MOUZ's full roster in Romania to lift his first arena trophy since DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019, and he didn't hold back his feelings in an interview on stage afterward.

"I'm fucking happy," he said with a huge smile on his face.

"I'm working really hard for this and it finally showed that I can actually call and be a leader, and try to improve from it. The last weeks have been really exhausting and I'm just really happy we managed to win this tournament."

That's not to say there aren't lingering questions about his leadership as even in the final, MOUZ posted only two T rounds on Mirage and four on Nuke.

The former can at least be excused due to an absurd defensive half out of NiKo and René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen, but on the latter Falcons were almost given enough room to come back after a NiKo ace in the pistol, with a torzsi 1v1 clutch being the catalyst in MOUZ's recovery at the end of the map.

xertioN sheds stage struggles

xertioN came ever so close to earning himself an MVP with a 1.21 rating in the final, where he had particularly potent performances on Dust2 (1.58 rating) and Ancient (1.55).

It was a watershed moment in fighting off the "group stage merchant" moniker that clung to him like a stench for much of 2024, and a confidence boost for future crowds as MOUZ look for more titles in the year.

He combined with torzsi for a throttling MOUZ defense on Dust2, leaving Falcons to scrounge just four rounds on a T side where they weren't given any of the same opening opportunities or careless duels that FaZe had offered in the semis.

Two of those rounds came from an early force-buy war and one from a Magisk clutch, and MOUZ wasted little time in closing out in the second half thanks to xertioN's opening impact.

He had a disastrous follow-up on Mirage, ending the map 4-14, but recovered well on Nuke (1.28 rating) and combined with Jimpphat to smash Falcons on Ancient, winning a key 2v5 early and helping fend off a late comeback effort to lift the trophy.

Falcons make too many errors down the stretch

NiKo walks away from Cluj-Napoca as the MVP, but the second place will sting after he struggled for impact on Ancient.

Falcons as a whole looked less confident in the title-deciding series with degster and Magisk getting off to slow starts, and their inexperience together showed in several mid-rounds that ultimately let MOUZ storm to victory.

A second place at only their second event with NiKo is still an immense improvement for the organization after a loathsome 2024, and wins over Eternal Fire and FaZe in playoffs and MOUZ in the group stage have made a firm statement: this Falcons can't be counted out like the last.