MOUZ edge out Sangal to secure IEM Rio Major spot

Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong and company were made to work for it, needing overtime on Inferno before almost dropping a seven-round lead on the decider of Ancient.

MOUZ defeated Sangal in a three-map series to clinch a spot in the IEM Rio Major Challengers Stage after going 3-2 in the European RMR B tournament.

The European combine beat OG and K23 to reach the best-of-three stage, where they first lost to Vitality in a three-map series before getting the job done against Sangal. The Robin "⁠ScrunK⁠" Röpke-led team will be disappointed to lose out after dropping a 13-7 lead on the first map of Inferno before running out of steam on the decider of Ancient.

torzsi is one of three Major debutants in MOUZ

Sangal got off on the right foot on Inferno, winning the T pistol and racing to a 5-0 lead, before a retake on the A site got MOUZ their first. Love "⁠phzy⁠" Smidebrant answered by winning a 1vs2 clutch, which meant that the underdog team was six rounds up in no time. They would win just one more round in the half, however, as MOUZ woke up and reduced the deficit to just one at halftime.

An aggressive push down middle gave Sangal their second pistol, which they once again converted into a five-round streak to lead 13-7. MOUZ came back to salvage the half, eventually forcing overtime with a B attack. Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman began OT with a triple-kill, as he crept into CT spawn undetected to backstab the B defenders and deliver the round for his team. MOUZ's experience shone through, looking more comfortable in high-pressure situations to close out the map 19-16.

Sangal began Vertigo with another quick start, going up 8-1 before MOUZ were able to find at least some success when David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský reduced the deficit to six with a 1vs2 clutch. Caner "⁠soulfly⁠" Kesici was the best performer in the half, as he went 7:0 in opening duels in the first half to help his team go into the interval with an 11-4 scoreline.

Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás began the second half with a triple in the pistol, but MOUZ immediately dropped the ball in the ensuing forcebuy, going down 5-14. This time, dexter and company weren't able to come back, dropping the map 9-16 to move the series to the decider of Ancient.

Sangal were once again quicker out of the gates, but MOUZ fought back quickly to tie up the scores at 4-4. Their CT side looked strong, with dexter leading by example to put his team five up at the interval.

MOUZ were able to start the second half by winning the immediate forcebuy to negate another Sangal pistol round, converting the momentum to a 13-6 lead. They had some trouble closing out the game, but dexter's crucial triple-kill and a 1vs1 clutch by Jon "⁠JDC⁠" de Castro were enough to get them over the line, 16-12.

IEM Road to Rio 2022 Europe RMR BBest of 3 MOUZMatchpage 2 1 9th October 2022 Sangal 19Inferno 16 9Vertigo 16 16Ancient 12

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
David 'frozen' Čerňanskýfrozen	61 - 53	+8	78.5	1.17
Christopher 'dexter' Nongdexter	67 - 61	+6	79.3	1.10
Dorian 'xertioN' BermanxertioN	63 - 58	+5	74.9	1.08
Jon 'JDC' de CastroJDC	47 - 61	-14	68.1	0.87
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsástorzsi	39 - 54	-15	51.4	0.81

Sangal	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Caner 'soulfly' Kesicisoulfly	67 - 60	+7	82.2	1.18
Kornél 'kory' Szedlárkory	60 - 60	0	74.6	1.07
Love 'phzy' Smidebrantphzy	56 - 51	+5	65.5	1.06
Can 'kyuubii' Alikyuubii	50 - 52	-2	60.4	0.95
Robin 'ScrunK' RöpkeScrunK	48 - 55	-7	66.9	0.93

Group Swiss 3W - 0L Natus Vincere ENCE 3W - 1L Vitality HEROIC OG 3W - 2L BIG MOUZ 2W - 2L Falcons Outsiders 2W - 3L Sangal K23 1W - 3L Monte HEET Illuminar 0W - 3L FANTASY SAW

The teams confirmed at the Major so far are:

Legends Stage
FaZe
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Natus Vincere
ENCE
Sprout
Spirit
Liquid Challengers Stage
9z
FURIA
00NATION
IHC
fnatic
GamerLegion
Bad News Eagles
Grayhound
BIG
Cloud9
MOUZ
Evil Geniuses

TBD*
HEROIC
OG

HEROIC and OG will play in a third-place decider bracket for a Legends spot

FaZe #1 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' KoolHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Ninjas in Pyjamas #11 Patrick 'es3tag' HansenFredrik 'REZ' SternerHampus 'hampus' PoserAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenLudvig 'Brollan' Brolin Sangal #37 Robin 'ScrunK' RöpkeCan 'kyuubii' AliKornél 'kory' SzedlárLove 'phzy' SmidebrantCaner 'soulfly' Kesici BIG #16 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeNils 'k1to' GruhneKarim 'Krimbo' MoussaJosef 'faveN' Baumann MOUZ #9 Christopher 'dexter' NongDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýÁdám 'torzsi' TorzsásDorian 'xertioN' BermanJon 'JDC' de Castro ENCE #18 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferValdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåPavle 'Maden' BoškovićPaweł 'dycha' DychaÁlvaro 'SunPayus' García 9z #50 Maximiliano 'max' GonzalezFranco 'dgt' GarciaDavid 'dav1deuS' Tapia MaldonadoLucas 'nqz' SoaresNicolás 'buda' Kramer OG #14 Nemanja 'nexa' IsakovićAdam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharMaciej 'F1KU' MiklasAbdul 'degster' GasanovShahar 'flameZ' Shushan Sprout #31 Ismail 'refrezh' AliFritz 'slaxz-' DietrichRasmus 'Zyphon' NordfossVictor 'Staehr' StaehrLaurențiu 'lauNX' Țârlea Natus Vincere #2 Oleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevIlya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyValeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy Jon 'JDC' de Castro Age: 22 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 555 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.67 Robin 'ScrunK' Röpke Age: 27 Team: Sangal Rating 1.0: 0.88 Maps played: 978 KPR: 0.61 DPR: 0.71 Love 'phzy' Smidebrant Age: 20 Team: Sangal Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 508 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.62 Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás Age: 20 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 512 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.62 Dorian 'xertioN' Berman Age: 18 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 246 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.66 HEROIC #10 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' BeckJakob 'jabbi' Nygaard Christopher 'dexter' Nong Age: 28 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1038 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.67 FURIA #7 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRafael 'saffee' CostaAndré 'drop' Abreu fnatic #19 Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenWilliam 'mezii' MerrimanDion 'FASHR' Derksen Caner 'soulfly' Kesici Age: 18 Team: Sangal Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 151 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.69 David 'frozen' Čerňanský Age: 20 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1242 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.64 Cloud9 #6 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Bad News Eagles #32 Rigon 'rigoN' GashiSener 'SENER1' MahmutiFlatron 'juanflatroo' HalimiDionis 'sinnopsyy' BudeciGenc 'gxx-' Kolgeci 00NATION #29 Marcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloEduardo 'dumau' WolkmerBruno 'latto' RebelattoSantino 'try' Rigal Spirit #15 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovBoris 'magixx' VorobievPavel 'S1ren' OgloblinRobert 'Patsi' IsyanovIhor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov IHC #82 Bat-Enkh 'kabal' BatbayarTengis 'sk0R' BatjargalTuvshintugs 'Annihilation' NyamdorjGaridmagnai 'bLitz' ByambasurenSodbayar 'Techno' Munkhbold OG #14 Nemanja 'nexa' IsakovićAdam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharMaciej 'F1KU' MiklasAbdul 'degster' GasanovShahar 'flameZ' Shushan Evil Geniuses #22 Timothy 'autimatic' TaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteTsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovSanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovJadan 'HexT' Postma K23 #46 Timur 'clax' SabirovBogdan 'xsepower' ChernikovDaniil 'X5G7V' MaryshevVladislav 'FinigaN' UsovKonstantin 'Raijin' Trubarov GamerLegion #60 Frederik 'acoR' GyldstrandMihai 'iM' IvanNicolas 'Keoz' DgusKamil 'siuhy' SzkaradekIsak 'isak' Fahlén Vitality #3 Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautDan 'apEX' MadesclaireEmil 'Magisk' ReifPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLotan 'Spinx' Giladi Liquid #4 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJosh 'oSee' OhmMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Grayhound #39 Simon 'Sico' WilliamsJay 'Liazz' TregillgasAlistair 'aliStair' JohnstonJoshua 'INS' PotterDeclan 'Vexite' Portelli