Austin Major quarter-finals day 1 as it happened

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In a post-match interview on BLAST's broadcast, Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov admitted a quarter-final exit is "not good enough" for Spirit.

"We need to go back home and talk to our CEO about what we do next," he said. "Semi-finals and quarter-finals are good, but we need tournament wins. It's sad to have this right now."

"About the whole season, we lost to only three teams, and maybe it's good, but it's not good [enough] for Spirit."

Could it mean changes for next season? "I don't know," chopper said. "Spirit do it between the CEO and coach. Maybe. I don't know."

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A bit of a damp squib compared to Mirage, if we're being honest.

Despite Spirit's immense record on Dust2, they were not really at this races in this map. A back and forth battle took place early in each half, but MOUZ eventually took control both times and were well deserved winners.

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Spirit 2-2 MOUZ

Scrappy start on Dust2, neither team is playing clean CS right now.

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If you didn't get a chance to watch this game, trust me, go back and check out the VOD.

After regulation was a streaky affair, with both teams starting well on their CT sides before some offensive adjustments brought things even, OT was a complete fist fight.

So many clutches, crazy rounds, map points denied, and heroic plays, with more coming from Spirit than MOUZ. Spirit completed SEVEN clutches, with SIX of them coming in OT. The first clutch was to get to OT.

Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia deserves special credit, he came up with three massive multi-kills, including two clutches, to get Spirit to OT and keep them alive to see the later sets of OT.

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Spirit 7-9 MOUZ

Spirit have not looked hot on this T side thus far. Slow defaults haven't garnered much, and they have found themselves caught by MOUZ's aggression on more than one occassion.

MOUZ in the lead and in control right now.

Spirit 7-5 MOUZ

MOUZ had worked their way back into this half admirably, mixing up their approach a little with a hit towards B and some more presence in Palace and Ramp, plus some good fragging work by Jimi "⁠Jimpphat⁠" Salo, Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás and Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman.

Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets wouldn't stay quiet, however, and came up with a big round on a bad buy to close the half in Spirit's favor.

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Spirit 5-1 MOUZ

A heavy focus on Middle and Connector presence hasn't paid off for MOUZ thus far, and so it's no surprise their first round comes via a contact play through Ramp.

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Spirit will be hoping to break their duck against MOUZ today, having twice been felled by the European squad thus far in 2025.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 21
15/03/2025	Spirit Finished 1:2 MOUZ	Match

Date	Matches
BLAST Open Lisbon 2025
21/03/2025	Spirit Finished 1:2 MOUZ	Match

Both series were, however, hard-fought affairs, with each team taking their map pick before MOUZ clinched a tight decider on Ancient.

It will be interesting to see if the veto stays the same for this third matchup, as in the previous two meetings we saw Dust2 from Spirit, Nuke from MOUZ, and Ancient as the closer.

Read more

QF spotlight: Will a rough group stage help or hinder MOUZ against Spirit?

Okay, so this isn't quite a full-Brazilian derby anymore, but six of the 10 players on the server will fly the flag of Brazil, so it's close enough.

paiN and FURIA are perhaps slight surprises to have made it this far in Austin, and they have a golden opportunity to earn a prestigious semi-final appearance, considering both have avoided the more favored teams heading into the quarter-finals.

Date	Matches
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 Stage 2
07/06/2025	paiN Finished 13:11 FURIA	Match

The only matchup between these two teams in 2025 occurred in Stage 2 of this very Major and went the way of paiN in narrow fashion, suggesting a close series could be at hand. FURIA are the betting favorites, which is understandable given their players have more pedigree playing at this kind of level.

There are few individual accolades in CS that are as prestigious as being named MVP of a Major, so let's take a look at how the race is shaping up ahead of the playoffs.

Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets and Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut are, unsuprisingly, leading the way in terms of rating from Stage 3, but there are some names who could throw themselves into the mix with strong playoff showings.

Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov is perhaps unlikely to outshine donk, and Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool shares a similar fate considering the existence of ZywOo, but FURIA's trio of Danil "⁠molodoy⁠" Golubenko, Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis and Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos could place themselves as unlikely candidates if they can lead their team's charge even deeper into the playoffs.

Of course, one cannot forget Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev, who has ramped up over the course of FaZe's run up to this point and is the type of player to thrive under the bright lights of the arena.

After a three-day break, the Austin Major is back underway with the single-elimination playoffs.

The field has been whittled down to eight teams, and though almost every favorite has reached the playoffs, the ramifications of Stage 3 have resulted in Vitality, Spirit and MOUZ being on the same side of the bracket.

Here is the schedule for today:

Date	Matches
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
19/06/2025	Spirit 21:05 MOUZ	Match
20/06/2025	FURIA 02:20 paiN	Match