MOUZ are through to the semi-finals of BLAST Bounty Season 2 Finals after coming alive late against 3DMAX, recovering from a loss on Dust2 (10-13) with wins on Nuke (22-18) and Inferno (13-3).
Speaking in a post-match interview on broadcast, Dorian "xertioN" Berman admitted his team was tested mentally in the series and didn't play to their level on the first two maps, and that was evident by the quality of Counter-Strike they played. Several lost advantages and squandered rounds to pistols nearly lost them the series, resulting in defeat on Dust2 at the eleventh hour and almost costing them Nuke, if not for a Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás masterclass.
3DMAX came into Dust2 with a clear game plan to abuse MOUZ's newcomer, Oldřich "PR" Nový, on B, and early efforts paid off as the Frenchmen converted a pistol for a 4-0 start. torzsi and xertioN found a few multi-kills to tie the score, but 3DMAX were unrelenting in their B attacks and led at halftime while holding PR to a 2-8 K-D.
That lead was extended to 9-5 after a second pistol win before MOUZ started returning the favor, punishing Kévin "misutaaa" Rabier on B as the gap closed. But just when MOUZ seemed set to tie the score again at 9-10, 3DMAX pulled off daylight robbery with a saved AK and four USPs thanks to a quad kill and 1v2 by Jeremy "Kursy" Gast after MOUZ missed a Long cross smoke, and used that to clinch a 13-10 victory.
Force-buy wars unfolded early doors on Nuke, with Bryan "Maka" Canda's Dualies 4k going to waste after 3DMAX fumbled to five Glocks in the next. Maka's 1v2 in the next was immediately answered by two back from MOUZ, but yet another collapse to a saved AK and pistols became their undoing. 3DMAX came roaring back into the lead with MOUZ looking flustered and out of sorts, losing another 1v2 to Lucas "Lucky" Chastang and managing just one more round in the half.
A sloppy pistol from both sides, which featured xertioN falling to his death from Heaven, was saved for MOUZ by Adrian "xelex" Vincze's 1v2, and though they lost to another low buy a few rounds later, soon had the score tied up at 9-9 after denying Filip "Graviti" Brankovic a 1v4 clutch. Again, though, MOUZ's sloppiness came back to bite them as 3DMAX executed an Upper hit and a missed molly by torzsi locked him out of defending the site.
3DMAX hit match point after a late battle, but couldn't get the job done in regulation as MOUZ forced overtime. There, a miraculous triple from torzsi recovered a 2v4 and set MOUZ on map point, but again extra rounds were needed as 3DMAX's unrelenting aggression thwarted MOUZ's early defaults. 3DMAX pulled off a masterful 2v5 of their own to push the map to a third overtime, but it was there that xelex came alive with a quad-kill and 1v3 clutch in back-to-back rounds to seal victory.
The kind of errors that plagued MOUZ across the first two maps of the series disappeared on Inferno, with some excellent calls by xertioN and fragging from Lotan "Spinx" Giladi and PR resulting in a complete turnaround. MOUZ were in cruise control throughout and had no trouble sealing victory, 13-3.
Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabier
Filip 'Graviti' Brankovic
Bryan 'Maka' Canda
Jeremy 'Kursy' Gast
3DMAX
Bryan 'Maka' Canda
Lucas 'Lucky' Chastang
Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabier
Jeremy 'Kursy' Gast
Filip 'Graviti' Brankovic
Damien 'wasiNk' Dufour
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
Lucas 'Lucky' Chastang
MOUZ
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Oldřich 'PR' Nový
Adrian 'xelex' Vincze
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi