{"id":15155,"date":"2023-10-16T02:40:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T02:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/news\/cs-2\/mouzs-impressive-title-run-5-key-takeaways-from-esl-pro-league-s18"},"modified":"2023-10-16T02:40:08","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T02:40:08","slug":"mouzs-impressive-title-run-5-key-takeaways-from-esl-pro-league-s18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/news\/cs-2\/mouzs-impressive-title-run-5-key-takeaways-from-esl-pro-league-s18\/","title":{"rendered":"MOUZ’s impressive title run, NA’s goodbye; 5 Key Takeaways from ESL Pro League S18"},"content":{"rendered":"

With MOUZ surprisingly securing the last Counter-Strike: Global Offensive big event crown, BLIX takes a look back at the Maltese event to find the main takeaways for the tier-one scene.<\/p>\n

MOUZ’\u0099s academy strategy pays off<\/strong><\/h2>\n

MOUZ came into ESL Pro League Season 18 on one of the longest tier-one LAN title droughts, with their last trophy coming all the way back at EPL Season 10 in December of 2019. Almost four years later, and with David ‘\u009cfrozen’\u009d \u00c4\u008cer\u00c5\u0088ansk\u00c3\u00bd as the only surviving member of that Chris ‘\u009cChrisJ’\u009d de Jong-led team, the German organization managed to complete an unlikely run to the title in Malta, which also stands as the culmination of a youth-based approach to team-building which saw four of the five players transition from the team’\u0099s academy roster, MOUZ NXT, to the main quintet.<\/p>\n

A prime example of team effort, MOUZ’\u0099s run saw AWPer \u00c3\u0081d\u00c3\u00a1m ‘\u009ctorzsi’\u009d Torzs\u00c3\u00a1s dominate the playoffs and secure his first MVP medal, while Dorian ‘\u009cxertioN’\u009d Berman produced his best-ever big event performance in Malta. frozen was once again the team’\u0099s leading performer, having now developed into one of the most impactful lurkers in the tier-one scene, but the spotlight was mainly on Jimi ‘\u009cJimpphat’\u009d Salo, MOUZ’\u0099s latest recruit, who impressed throughout the event and has shown incredible consistency, especially considering this was his second tier-one LAN appearance.<\/p>\n

\"MOUZ'\u0099s MOUZ’\u0099s entire squad performed admirably in Malta, with everyone contributing at different points of the run (Image Credits: ESL | Igor Bezborodov)<\/span><\/div>\n

While the individual performances were impressive on their own, MOUZ’\u0099s ability to recover from a slow start in the group stage raised even more eyebrows. The international lineup lost to MIBR in their opening matchup and had to recover in the Lower Bracket, where they also beat Heroic, before going on a rampage through the playoffs and taking down FURIA, FaZe, G2, ENCE and NAVI, only dropping two maps in the process. Now, the team built by coach Dennis ‘\u009csycrone’\u009d Nielsen will have to approach the transition to Counter-Strike 2 with the added pressure of establishing themselves as title contenders, and proving the EPL result wasn’\u0099t a flash in the pan.<\/p>\n

Vitality and G2 drop the ball<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If MOUZ’\u0099s story was one of unexpected success, G2 and Vitality found themselves on the other end of the spectrum, as both contenders failed to impress in the playoffs and quickly bowed out of the event. G2 had come out of the Summer break rejuvenated, taking the title at IEM Cologne and a top-four finish at Gamers8, while Vitality produced the opposite results, even looking nigh-unstoppable in Saudi Arabia after adding former OG rifler Shahar ‘\u009cflameZ’\u009d Shushan. The two teams made quick work of their group-stage opponents, although Rasmus ‘\u009cHooXi’\u009d Nielsen’\u0099s side already looked shaky against Complexity.<\/p>\n

Despite the likes of Ilya ‘\u009cm0nesy’\u009d Osipov, Lotan ‘\u009cSpinx’\u009d Giladi and Emil ‘\u009cMagisk’\u009d Reif performing at an impressive level, the playoffs told a completely different story. G2 failed to stop MOUZ’\u0099s run to the title, narrowly securing Ancient but eventually falling 1-2 to the international side, while Vitality’\u0099s collapse was even more egregious, with the team crashing out of the event after a 0-2 loss at the hands of Monte. While both results could be ruled out as one-offs for the teams, who remain the leading forces in the tier-one scene alongside ENCE, flameZ’\u0099s poor form at the event and G2’\u0099s reliance on individuals are still worrying signs.<\/p>\n

\"G2'\u0099s G2’\u0099s inconsistency is not exactly news, but the expectations are much higher after the team’\u0099s title at IEM Cologne (Image Credits: ESL | Adam Lakomy)<\/span><\/div>\n

While G2’\u0099s success, even if sporadic, has allowed HooXi to escape much of the scrutiny he was subjected to in his first few months with the team, the quintet is becoming more and more dependent on Nikola ‘\u009cNiKo’\u009d Kova\u00c4\u008d and m0nesy to close matches, with the duo’\u0099s individual prowess instrumental in saving five match points against Complexity. Meanwhile, Vitality’\u0099s decision to drop Peter ‘\u009cdupreeh’\u009d Rasmussen looked like the winning one after the Summer break, but it will still take time to integrate flameZ into the system. Neither team can, however, afford to fall behind their competitors in CS2, with HooXi and Dan ‘\u009capEX’\u009d Madesclaire hoping this will be little more than a stumble.<\/p>\n

Heroic’\u0099s (un)predictable collapse<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Once possibly the scene’\u0099s most consistent performers, Heroic have continuously fallen at the final hurdles in 2023, taking multiple second-places and top-four finishes. Even if they still produced a high level of CS, the Danish side was naturally affected by their repeated failures to secure big event trophies, especially after a historic collapse from a map up against GamerLegion in the BLAST Paris Major semifinals. This meant even more disappointing showings at IEM Cologne and Gamers8, as the team’\u0099s protocols faltered and they were overtaken by ENCE as the scene’\u0099s consistent contender.<\/p>\n

The team only recorded one win in Malta, 2-0ing the Australians of Rooster, before crashing out of the event with a single map to their name in losses against MOUZ, BIG and Monte. The stats paint an extremely bleak picture, with the rifling duo of Jakob ‘\u009cjabbi’\u009d Nygaard and Ren\u00c3\u00a9 ‘\u009cTeSeS’\u009d Madsen frequently in the negatives and AWPer-IGL Casper ‘\u009ccadiaN’\u009d M\u00c3\u00b8ller a liability both on the Big Green and as a caller. Cracks had been showing since the start of the year, especially in high-pressure situations, but Heroic’\u0099s image as a well-oiled machine that could steamroll weaker opposition crumbled in the hot European Summer.<\/p>\n

Read More: Heroic bench cadiaN<\/a><\/p>\n

The team’\u0099s downfall over the last three months was so significant it required immediate changes, and those came in the form of cadiaN being removed from the active lineup, with the IGL claiming he ‘\u009cwanted some changes and some people wanted a different way’\u009d in an interview with Dexerto<\/a>. The Danish organization now finds itself needing to replace its long-time captain and sniper in a transfer market, which presents few options and even fewer opportunities and will likely need to accept a compromise on either of the two roles. Whether the team will be able to perform in Counter-Strike 2 without its face and brain, or it will get picked apart by international and local rivals, remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

North America keeps faltering<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The 18th Season of ESL Pro League also underscored the struggles of North American Counter-Strike, as the region only produced a single playoff team in Complexity. Even Jonathan ‘\u009cEliGE’\u009d Jablonowski’\u0099s side, who are admittedly still finding their footing after adding the former Liquid rifler, fell at the first hurdle despite looking strong in the group stage, with a 1-2 loss at the hands of Monte ending their event. The star rifler was actually CoL’\u0099s main liability in Malta, as both Michael ‘\u009cGrim’\u009d Wince and especially Ricky ‘\u009cfloppy’\u009d Kemery played key roles in the team’\u0099s wins over 9INE and Cloud9.<\/p>\n

The other two North American sides, M80 and Evil Geniuses, produced even less inspired performances. The former failed to record a single map win in non-impossible matchups against Apeks, 5yclone and 9z, while the latter were surprisingly competitive against MOUZ and took MIBR to the limit, but only thanks to Jadan ‘\u009cHexT’\u009d Postma. NA’\u0099s lack of success is even more perplexing when compared to its closest neighbor, South America, which had four representatives at the Maltese event but saw both FURIA and 9z reach the playoffs, with MIBR falling in their last group match against Monte.<\/p>\n

\"HexT HexT was the only bright light in yet another uninspired run by Evil Geniuses (Image Credits: ESL | Igor Bezborodov)<\/span><\/div>\n

While the state of North American CS has already been talked about extensively, ESL Pro League S18 was a fitting end to three years of post-COVID disappointment for the region. From Liquid’\u0099s repeated failures to build another winning roster from the pieces at their disposal and Evil Geniuses’\u0099 well-intentioned but still horribly realized Blueprint Project to the various rosters that sporadically appeared at international events only to collapse without the support of an organization, NA seems at the end of its rope. CS2 might be able to revitalize the region through the promise of a more open circuit alone, especially as competitors falter, but will the player base respond?<\/p>\n

NAVI finds their groove<\/strong><\/h2>\n

NAVI reached Malta after an up-and-down three months with their new Aleksi ‘\u009cAleksib’\u009d Virolainen-led international roster, which saw them take some important scalps but also suffer disappointing losses. IEM Cologne saw the squad fail to reach the playoffs after a narrow loss to Astralis, while in Gamers8 the team was unable to compete with Vitality’\u0099s firepower after taking down FURIA in their opening match. The most worrying aspect was the undeniable drop in performance by the new signings, Mihai ‘\u009ciM’\u009d Ivan and Justinas ‘\u009cjL’\u009d Lekavicius, who had come in as some of the best-rising riflers in the tier-two scene.<\/p>\n

\"s1mple s1mple is still the team’\u0099s difference maker even amidst a difficult year for the Ukrainian star (Image Credits: ESL | Adam Lakomy)<\/span><\/div>\n

This changed almost overnight at EPL Season 18, with NAVI first taking their group by storm, recording a 6-0 map record with wins over 5yclone, Apeks and FaZe. While Oleksandr ‘\u009cs1mple’\u009d Kostilyev’\u0099s side had an easier side of the bracket, NAVI also kept up this form in the playoffs, making quick work of both Eternal Fire and Monte before ultimately falling at the hands of MOUZ in the Grand Finals. A lot of the credit has to go to Aleksib and coach Andrey ‘\u009cB1ad3’\u009d Gorodenskiy, whose work was probably instrumental in allowing the team to fix their lackluster map pool in the weeks leading up to the event.<\/p>\n

s1mple was predictably the team’\u0099s best performer, but a resurgent Valeriy ‘\u009cb1t’\u009d Vakhovskiy was very close behind, recording his best event in almost a year and a half and slotting in perfectly in his lurking roles. Even iM showed remarkable signs of improvement, especially on the CT sides, allowing NAVI’\u0099s proactive setups to shine. The players will still be disappointed by the end of their run, as they were never even in contention against MOUZ, but such an improvement in a very short time is nothing short of impressive. If NAVI can keep evolving and ironing out their mistakes while transitioning into CS2, little can stop s1mple’\u0099s team from becoming a real contender.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With MOUZ surprisingly securing the last Counter-Strike: Global Offensive big event crown, BLIX takes a look back at the Maltese event to find the main takeaways for the tier-one scene. MOUZ’\u0099s academy strategy pays off MOUZ came into ESL Pro League Season 18 on one of the longest tier-one LAN title droughts, with their last<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":15156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[164],"class_list":{"0":"post-15155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cs-2","8":"tag-esl-pro-league-s18"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}