IEM Cologne 2025Spirit battle past MOUZ into Cologne semi-final
Spirit earned their first win against MOUZ in 2025 at the fourth time of asking.
Spirit have grabbed themselves a direct berth to the semi-finals of IEM Cologne thanks to a hard-fought win over MOUZ, beating the European squad on Ancient (16-13) and Overpass (13-6) either side of a loss on Mirage (19-22).
The first two maps of this series were hotly contested, mirroring how closely these two teams have contested matches this year, with fine margins deciding the outcome of rounds as well as the maps themselves.
After recovering from a slow start on Ancient, MOUZ's offense had begun to assert control in the second half. Their good work was undone by two losses to bad buys, with a little help from a Ivan "zweih" Gogin 1v2 clutch, to send the map to overtime, where Danil "donk" Kryshkovets came alive to seal the deal for Spirit.
Another streaky first half ensued on Mirage, with Spirit getting the better of things to secure a 7-5 lead on their CT side. MOUZ answered back with a pistol win in the second half only to lose to another low Spirit buy, letting the Russians maintain their lead.
The end of the map became frantic after MOUZ bagged an unlikely round win of their own with a single saved M4, crunching connector at the vital moment. A back-and-forth resulted, Spirit winning a couple close clutch rounds whilst MOUZ pushed through some retakes, to give us another OT affair.
There was still little to separate the two teams as they battled in OT, with MOUZ twice overturning deficits to extend the extra rounds. It was Dorian "xertioN" Berman who ultimately made the difference, a string of multi-kills helping his team secure a third map.
Overpass was a damp squib compared to the previous maps, with MOUZ seeming short of ideas and practice on the map when compared to Spirit. A very flat-footed offense was prevented from being entirely one-sided thanks to a few late-round executes, but Spirit produced a far more nuanced attack that comfortably closed the series.
Spirit finally best MOUZ
After three cracks at beating MOUZ this year, where they lost 1-2 in close fashion each time, Spirit have finally overcome their demons.
It might be a stretch to credit this victory to zweih, he is still yet to fully find his feet in this Spirit lineup, but the change in fortunes for Spirit against a rival is a positive sign.
More highlights:
 MOUZ |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56 - 65 | -0.19% | 80.5 | 71.9% | 1.06 | |
| 61 - 59 | +2.01% | 74.6 | 74.2% | 1.05 | |
| 62 - 56 | -0.41% | 65.6 | 69.7% | 0.94 | |
| 56 - 60 | -0.92% | 77.3 | 70.8% | 0.94 | |
| 52 - 67 | -2.27% | 66.4 | 68.5% | 0.88 |
  Spirit |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 76 - 65 | +1.42% | 98.2 | 78.7% | 1.32 | |
| 73 - 50 | +1.59% | 83.7 | 74.2% | 1.23 | |
| 58 - 55 | +1.62% | 73.7 | 70.8% | 1.08 | |
| 52 - 59 | -1.91% | 69.3 | 76.4% | 0.99 | |
| 46 - 58 | -1.02% | 55.7 | 71.9% | 0.87 |
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
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Arielelelelele
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punisher;;
sosiad
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ssacred
xrnavkha
Kopist
cetinHo - in memory of cyx
dogswillbe_dogs
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her-1g
