MOUZ continued their dream debut with a new roster, defeating Astralis 2-1 to secure a spot in the BLAST Bounty S2 Finals.
Despite securing the victory, MOUZ will hope for a significant improvement before heading into the finals, as they squandered their lead multiple times throughout this series. On Dust2, they even nearly threw away a 12-2 advantage, only saving themselves from embarrassment as Astralis closed in to within reach.
However, MOUZ was the superior side in most rounds of this series, with Astralis relying on individual heroics—especially from jabbi—to secure the win on Ancient and keep Dust2 so close.
Astralis completely dominated the early T-side on Ancient, riding their pistol round victory to a 5-0 lead. MOUZ won a few rounds to give themselves a chance to stabilize, but they squandered too many opportunities, a trend that would continue for the remainder of the map.
MOUZ held a 4v3 advantage in the second-half pistol round, but a triple kill from HooXi turned the round around. A clutch from torzsi later gave MOUZ a glimmer of hope, but they lost the following round to jabbi's Five-Seven. To make matters worse, jabbi secured an ace to wipe out MOUZ in the final round, finishing with a clutch and a last-second defuse to take the map.
On Mirage, MOUZ came out with high morale, easily building a 6-1 lead on the attacking side. phzy secured an ace with a saved AWP, injecting life into Astralis' defense, but MOUZ's old habit of throwing advantages soon resurfaced. MOUZ squandered a 3v2 advantage, getting clutched by two held AWPs, which gave Astralis the opening to chip away at their lead and tie the half.
Entering the second half, MOUZ began to turn the tide, winning those close rounds. A victory in the second round of the half, sparked by a sneaky double kill from xelex, set the momentum, and they never looked back, clinching every tight round to force the series into a Dust2 decider.
After the first half of Dust2, MOUZ looked set to comfortably advance to the finals, as torzsi and xeleX completely dominated the game and led their team to a 10-2 scoreline. MOUZ then took the first two rounds of the second half to reach match point, but a blown 4v2 situation nearly cost them the match.
As Astralis continued to ramp up the pressure, MOUZ began to struggle, and Site B became a real issue. Even with an advantage, xelex and Spinx failed to hold off repeated attacks. However, this mountain ultimately proved too steep for Astralis to climb, and MOUZ successfully closed out the match to secure their spot in the grand finals.