Mousesports are through to the playoff stage of the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier following an impressive reverse sweep of Fnatic.
Mouz clinched their first playoff berth since ESL One Belo Horizonte in June by ending Fnatic’s run with a 2-1 series score. They eliminated Fnatic by winning on their map pick, Train, as well as on the decider map, Mirage.
Related: Team Liquid stand strong against MIBR, eliminating them from the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier
Inferno was a hectic map between both sides as the momentum swayed from Fnatic to Mousesports in the first half. Mouz ran away with the second pistol round and slowly creeped into the lead with a few successful executes, but the Swedes fought back hard on defense. Despite a crucial one-vs-two clutch from Robin “ropz” Kool in round 28, Fnatic emerged on top at a tight 16-13 score. Mouz in-game leader and typical impact fragger Chris “chrisJ” de Jong also finished the map with nine measly kills at the bottom of the server.
Fnatic were stumped by Mouz’s early aggression on Train, until they finally found their footing late into the half thanks to a few successful retakes. After losing the second pistol round, Fnatic took control of the match once again by winning the force buy and succeeding in almost all of their offenses. But Mouz came alive and adjusted to the Swedish offensive with some help from a 3K by ropz in round 28, causing Fnatic to choke a 14-11 lead. Train concluded with Mouz on top at 16-14.
Mouz’s momentum carried into the match decider, Mirage, giving the European squad a 7-0 lead, which was later converted to 11-4 at the half. A successful second pistol round helped Fnatic put a few points on the board on their CT side, but it wasn’t enough as Miikka “suNny” Kemppi and Tomas “oskar” Stastny led the charge in frags to secure the win for Mouz. Mirage went in favor of Mouz 16-9 after they won a string of five rounds.
Mousesports are the last team to move on to the playoffs of ELEAGUE’s $1 million event. They’ll be going up against Astralis in the semifinals at 1pm CT on Saturday, July 28.
