MOUZ's young squad are enjoying an excellent season, which is only getting better as they have just secured themselves a spot in the PGL Masters Bucharest playoffs with a win over Spirit. The victory also marks their third in a row over Spirit, suggesting MOUZ are starting to develop into a bogey team for one of the best teams in the world.
"One time can happen by chance," Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás began when speaking to HLTV after the game. "Second time maybe it was good by us or whatever, but third time I think it's a statement. I think we showed that we can beat the best team in the world."
With another playoff berth on the horizon, torzsi spoke with HLTV to give his in-depth thoughts on their win over Spirit and MOUZ's steady development over the course of the season.
You can listen to the interview here.
Congratulations. Just talk me through that series through your eyes.
Yeah, thank you. I think this game was really good for us. Of course the first map was a disaster, I think we were just not there mentally. There was a big time we spent here in the studio because we came before the Liquid game, and then they came back and went to the third map. I think we just get out of the rhythm a little bit, but of course it's not an excuse. And yeah, we just get absolutely owned on Nuke.
I think it's really nice to see how we mentally stepped up and locked in, and it showed on the last two maps. We fought for it. On Dust2 we played amazing, we read where they are going and yeah, we had really good rounds. They won the pistol round on the first half, they start with 3-0 and we end up 7-5 first half, and then we convert the T side. It was really good by us. xertioN played really good, he had really great calls and just led the team really good and yeah, that was amazing.
I think Mirage was really close. It's 10-10, we decide to force and then we have to crawl back from 12-10. We make it to overtime, and then we close it down. We win three rounds in T side, I think, or CT side, I'm not sure. But yeah, it was a close game, but I think it showed our mentality is really, really strong.
Towards the end of that Mirage when they're on T side and donk starts to get rolling and he's picking up double entries on the T side, do you start to feel any pressure like, "Oh, God, donk's kind of activated now"?
Not really. I don't think we are too scared of him. We know he's a big piece in their game, but I feel like we have a good control under him usually. On the Mirage game he played really good, he got a lot of frags of course.
There's like two rounds where he gets double entry, and one of the rounds we misunderstood the call or something, I don't know, when we died double in window with Spinx. That was a little bit bad by us, but there is one also where he just goes Connector or Catwalk, I'm not sure, and he just double kills the A guys and good shots by him. But yeah, I don't feel any pressure if he's activated or anything.
It's starting to become a bit of a trend now, MOUZ beating Spirit. It feels like you've really got their number. I think BLAST Porto is the only time this season they've beaten you, other than that, you've beaten them every time. What do you put that down to?
Yeah. As you said, we beat them three times now in a row, and I think mostly this game, for us, it was also for this... One time can happen by chance, second time maybe it was good by us or whatever, but third time I think it's a statement I think we showed that we can be the best team in the world, or we can compete versus them, of course, you know?
As you said, we have their number, and I think it's because we have a really good understanding of how they play. We have usually really, really good preparation, and I think sycrone and xertioN and Xyp9x has always really good ideas how to anti-strat them or play versus them.
We just understand how to bully donk a little bit and not give him too much space. Of course sometimes he can still pop off, like the Mirage game, but generally we have a good understanding how they like to play and what we need to abuse versus them. I think that's why we have their number.
I think in the past a lot of people would've said you guys had a bit of a mental block against the top teams, especially within these close games. Do you think you're starting to have a bit of that yourself? You're winning these close games, certain teams can't beat you, like Spirit are really struggling. Do you think you're starting to develop a bit of that stature?
Yeah, I think we are doing that. Also this season, I think we made three grand finals already. We won one of them, lost two, and yeah, we are beating Spirit consistently. So yeah, I think we are improving, and we are also gaining that status and yeah. They also trash talked us a little bit before the last map, so I think it was a nice statement to win that Mirage versus them.
Spirit
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov
Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev
Andrey 'tN1R' Tatarinovich
Myroslav 'zont1x' Plakhotia
Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets
Sergey 'hally' Shavaev
MOUZ
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
Ádám 'torzsi' TorzsásPast 3 months