Having lost on all occasions in the last season, MOUZ has taken its first win against Team Vitality in the semi-finals at the prestigious stage of Lanxess, thus booking its spot in the Grand Finals of IEM Cologne against Team Spirit.
VETO
- MOUZ removed Dust2
- Vitality removed Ancient
- MOUZ picked Mirage
- Vitality picked Train
- MOUZ removed Inferno
- Vitality removed Nuke
- Overpass was left over
Map 1: Mirage; Pick: Vitality; Winner: MOUZ
Going 5-0 up, Vitality started strong on Mirage, steamrolling MOUZ before the latter won its first round. After winning their fifth round, Vitality faced a tough fight from MOUZ, leading to a much more competitive half before switching sides. Off the back of a pistol round win, MOUZ took back control of the momentum while Vitality choked hard. MOUZ powered ahead as the reigning Major winners could not post anything more than a single round. Playing almost a perfect offense, MOUZ stunned Vitality, stealing their map pick to go ahead in the series.
Ropz’s heroics for Vitality met several high-impact moments from xertioN, who came hard with 25 kills to win Mirage for MOUZ.
Map 2: Train; Pick: MOUZ; Winner: MOUZ
Winning the pistol round, Vitality dropped the ball as MOUZ’s defence took back control of the game. Both teams fairly traded rounds for the first half, thus concluding with a very competitive scoreline before switching sides. Vitality started their defence but lost to a force buy in the following round as MOUZ took back control. MOUZ continued with a strong offense, and Vitality could not win a round until MOUZ found themselves on a series point. While Vitality were on the verge of pushing the map to overtime, MOUZ shut their hopes down in the 23rd round of the game with a B-site walk.
Another solid Ropz performance, which needed a little push from the Vitality squad, went in vain, with Spinx getting his revenge and seeing off his former squad with 20 kills and a 1.35 IR.
A slow start to the season for Team Vitality, but there is no doubt that they will come back stronger as the season progresses. One can argue that Cologne is a prestigious event, that flow is yet to set in for the squad after coming off a month-long vacation after winning a Major.
