Oldřich "PR" Nový was one of many success stories from MOUZ NXT as a top five rookie and top three prospect in 2025 for GamerLegion. So, after first exploring a move to bring him back to Hamburg in the winter, it makes sense that MOUZ went back to bring their academy boy home.
What makes PR even more valuable is the role he plays. Overqualified anchor-lurkers are a fixture in top teams, as the likes of Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy and Nikita "HeavyGod" Martynenko show, but they do not grow on trees. MOUZ, however, already produced one top support in the form of Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo. So why the need for PR?
While Jimpphat's loss of form in 2026, particularly on T side, is a factor, we also see this as a move that Dennis "sycrone" Nielsen has made for stylistic reasons. Lotan "Spinx" Giladi and Jimpphat co-existed fairly well, with Spinx taking a lot of flexible trading roles rather than the primary lurking ones, but there was always an inherent clash. PR is naturally aggressive, and so offers the chance for Spinx to return to a more passive playstyle.
The fact that Jimpphat did not return for the Major, when Ludvig "Brollan" Brolin played a lot of the Finn's roles, is a clue that this move is more about player profiles than player positions. But before we dive fully into that, let's knock out the spots themselves.
PR is not a full 1:1 for the spots that Jimpphat, Justinas "jL" Lekavicius, and then Brollan played. MOUZ's best option is to keep Spinx as their primary lurker, and move PR to B Apps on Mirage, Banana (or Middle) on Inferno, and Silo on Nuke. That gives PR a few more options when it comes to mid-round aggression, without his death giving up half of the map on its own.
CT side is also straightforward, at least when it comes to PR himself. He's been shuffled around a lot on GamerLegion, who have used him as a rotator and as an anchor, but with Spinx and Dorian "xertioN" Berman hoovering up rotator roles, there's no chance of that here.
That's fine for PR, an able anchor at Ramp on Nuke (1.11 LAN CT rating this year) and A on Anubis (1.07), spots he will keep in MOUZ. But it's bad news for Adrian "xelex" Vincze, who might have been able to escape his dire set of positions had a small-site anchor come in instead of a big-site one like PR.
Defense is the most interesting part of the new MOUZ lineup, where they have four playmakers. PR was effective as an A anchor on Ancient or B Short on Overpass because it allows the possibility for some movement. xelex was the star on NXT, but now plays Floor on Nuke and has a 0.98 CT rating with just 14.9% opening attempts over all maps
The only solution to this would be to replace Spinx with a more common anchor-lurker type, rather than his somewhat old-school rotation on CT, lurk on T situation. Given that Spinx is a three-time Top 20 player, we think xelex may just have to suck it up for now.
Even with all of that playmaking capacity, however, the roles work out fine. xelex may be uncomfortable, but at least he won't have to learn many new roles after PR's arrival. One of he or PR will need to take B on Mirage, probably xelex, but the new team will have time to look at the macro rather than just getting players up to speed on new positions.
And for that macro, it will be intriguing to see how PR is utilised. He was a bit of a lone wolf in GamerLegion, with low trading figures for both deaths and kills. jL and Jimpphat, meanwhile, were far more reliant on trade frags for their numbers, both going above 24% in that metric.
Spinx's presence in the bottom right of this chart is also different from his role's usual spot. As we noted in the last MOUZ stat check, he's been used in a different role than the community perception of him, going first into bombsites when his team arrives to where he began as a lurker.
Since xelex arrived, the picture has changed somewhat. In the main MOUZ lineup, he's on a 22.5 trade death rate and 18.4% trade kill rate, completely opposite to how he was used on NXT as a star trader who was rarely first entry on bombsites. Spinx still isn't trading much (16.8%) but is being traded slightly less (21%) since then.
An option for MOUZ is to keep PR as a lone wolf lurker, and turn Spinx into a 'crow' trade fragger. It makes sense for at least one of them to be there to pick up the pieces as the first or second man in with xelex, and xertioN usually spacetaking and then dying or lurking from spots like Red on Ancient or Window on Mirage. Both players could work in this role, and it's easy to see this being a map (and site) dependent decision, but our preference would be for Spinx to act as more of a trader and to keep PR as a lone playmaker.
In the past, Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás and Jimpphat were the rocks for the team, prioritizing their lives above frags and giving the rest of the team a platform to be more aggressive. Spinx could become that player, embracing the baity side of his game, which would allow PR to stay as a high-activity lurker with high kills and high deaths.
The Czech teenager's game is founded on what Ashley "ash" Battye called creativity. PR's old coach told us last year: "He thinks and reacts extremely quickly, and he thinks about the overall picture, but his creativity is probably his strongest asset because he is always trying to outplay his opponent like a veteran IGL who relies on it to win duels."
This means his kills are often high impact, but his deaths are too, with a decent Swing Added of +9.9% but ending up on just +0.02% overall. That type of playmaking is a key part of his game and should not be stymied by sycrone — it is why his profile fits playing alongside Spinx more than Jimi — but it does need to be nurtured correctly. Where Jimi wanted to clutch the round, PR wants to end it earlier with a well-timed read and walk out.
In 2025, that worked well for PR with a 1.11 rating at MVP events, but that has dropped to a 1.07 in 2026 with just 53.3% of maps above 1.00, perhaps suggesting he is not as suited to the system of Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski as he was to that of ash and Erik "ztr" Gustafsson. A tactical side like MOUZ, therefore, might bring him back out of his shell.
A step up brings its own challenges. PR has played several roles in GamerLegion, but at MVP events in 2026, he's been using an AK47 for nearly 50% of his kills, and only has 4 kills with the MP9 all year. At MOUZ, surely something has to give: All four of their riflers average above $2225 when it comes to the weapon value of their frags, when Jimi and jL were far below that mark.
But when you take a step back and give PR's 2026 the benefit of the doubt, it's easy to see what MOUZ are trying to do with this team composition. They do not, and cannot, have a superstar fragger. But by having xertioN as an in-game leader alongside three powerhouse rifles, they can replace that firepower in the aggregate.
When you look at the truly elite teams, and add up all five players' ADR, MOUZ's new lineup are fifth on 369. Vitality have 380 and Spirit 376, with high round win percentages and the two best players of CS2, but MOUZ (alongside FUT and G2) are right behind them.
Of course, PR and xelex's numbers are bound to drop in a top team and as their resources reduce. But by not having a traditional support, let alone a normal in-game leader, MOUZ are aiming to have a high enough fragging floor to offset their lack of a fragging peak.
There's a nice balance of aggression, and the positions themselves make a decent amount of sense (perhaps with the exception of xelex on CT.) The vision is to have no weak links, all under the control of sycrone. torzsi's AWPing is a cause for concern, but with four high-power riflers it makes sense to have a more supportive, stable, and passive sniper. It's also a market where an upgrade is not obvious, especially when you factor in torzsi's understanding of MOUZ's system.
Put simply, this is a lineup that features two top-five prospects and three players used to featuring in the year-end Top 20 Players of the Year ranking. There is a proven system, with xertioN acting as sycrone's brain on the server, and all of the backroom support you could need with a state-of-the-art headquarters and the experience of Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth as an assistant coach.
In a world without phenoms, it's an excellent case of general management. But in the real one, it's hard to see even a well-built team like this eclipsing Spirit, Falcons, or Vitality.
There are also fair questions. PR's form in 2026 might not just be down to GamerLegion's change of system. xelex has done okay since stepping up, but is not taking to tier one in the way a Maksim "kyousuke" Lukin or Danil "molodoy" Golubenko did. The core of Spinx, xertioN, and torzsi, meanwhile, have never fully banished their demons when it comes to the biggest titles.
So for all the positivity we have shown about the move, whether it is a success depends more on the question you are asking. Was 2025, with 14 playoff finishes, the peak for an organization without a superstar? Or was it not good enough because of the lack of titles?
We can see this lineup matching 2025 with their high floor and sound system. But to go above that high water line, PR and xelex need to be better than even the most hopeful tier-two fan thinks they will be.
Justinas 'jL' Lekavicius
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
GamerLegion
Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski
Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner
Sebastian 'Tauson' Tauson Lindelof
Milan 'hypex' Polowiec
Adrian 'imd' Pieper
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
FUT
Yasin 'xfl0ud' Koç
Dmytro 'dem0n' Myroshnychenko
Aulon 'Krabeni' Fazlija
Nikita 'cmtry' Samolotov
Džiugas 'dziugss' Steponavičius
András 'coolio' Fercsák
Ashley 'ash' Battye
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko
Falcons
Finn 'karrigan' Andersen
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
René 'TeSeS' Madsen
Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov
Maksim 'kyousuke' Lukin
Danny 'zonic' Sørensen
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth
Nikita 'HeavyGod' Martynenko
Ludvig 'Brollan' Brolin
Jimi 'Jimpphat' Salo
MOUZ NXT
Tiago 'opdust' Simão
Maksims 'ay0k' Beloglazovs
Nikolai 'Nikodeon' Sørensen
Sacha 'eSx' Dupin
Mikołaj 'mixer' Zhu
Sergey 'lmbt' Bezhanov
Erik 'ztr' Gustafsson
Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Maksim 'kyousuke' Lukin
G2
Nikita 'HeavyGod' Martynenko
Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač
Guy 'NertZ' Iluz
Artem 'r1nkle' Moroz
Matúš 'MATYS' Šimko
Eetu 'sAw' Saha
Spirit
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov
Boris 'magixx' Vorobiev
Andrey 'tN1R' Tatarinovich
Myroslav 'zont1x' Plakhotia
Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets
Sergey 'hally' Shavaev
Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski
MOUZ
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
Vitality
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam