MOUZ see off The MongolZ to reach fourth final in 2025

Brollan's charges were made to work hard to get the better of the Mongolians on stage.

MOUZ have claimed the first spot in the grand final of IEM Dallas 2025 following a 2-0 win against The MongolZ in a highly competitive series where both maps went the distance.

The Asian giants showed progress as they seem to be getting more comfortable playing on stage, but still exit the tournament with a bittersweet taste in their mouths, having pushed MOUZ to their limit.

They recovered from a disastrous start on Inferno and nearly took the map before one crucial mistake that proved fatal. On Nuke, they were the better team for the entire first half but ceded control after halftime and couldn't stabilize on the offense.

The victory sends MOUZ to their fourth grand final this year, their first since Lisbon after semi-final runs in Melbourne and Copenhagen. As MOUZ await the winner of the matchup between Vitality and Falcons, Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi stated that he is looking for revenge against his former team.

"I want to face Vitality," he said after the match. "We deserve the revenge. I think it would be nice for the storyline.

"The difference this time? This time we will finish it."

Date	Matches
IEM Dallas 2025
25/05/2025	MOUZ 21:30 Vitality	Match

Even with the crowd heavily in The MongolZ's favor, which Ayush "⁠mzinho⁠" Batbold had alluded to the previous day, MOUZ got off to a flying start on Inferno as they raced to a 7-0 lead on the CT side. It was only then that the Mongolians managed to stop the bleeding, and they enjoyed a spell of dominance to reduce the deficit to four rounds before the end of the half.

The second half began in chaotic fashion as the teams traded force buys after a flawless pistol from The MongolZ. Buoyed by the support of the Texas crowd, the Mongolians were able to carve out an 11-10 lead, but just when it looked like they were going to hit map point, they were caught off-guard by a barrage of HE grenades in an anti-force round.

That round swung the momentum back clearly to MOUZ's side, and the European side rode the wave to a 13-11 win, to the despair of Garidmagnai "⁠bLitz⁠" Byambasuren's troops.

Spinx raised eyebrows early on Nuke with a stunning 1v3 clutch that put MOUZ on the board, but it was otherwise a dream start from The MongolZ as they picked up a 6-1 lead with some stellar AWPing by Usukhbayar "⁠910⁠" Banzragch, who by this point had a 5-0 opening duel record.

The MongolZ ended the half up by four, but the momentum started to change in the second half. Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás and Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo combined for 32 frags as MOUZ took control of the game on the CT side and stayed composed throughout, even with a couple of scares along the way, to secure the map in the final round of regulation.