#Heroic prevailed over #MOUZ in a close match to advance to the ESL Premier League quarter-finals by winning on Nuke 16-12 and Inferno 16-14.
Heroic were the clear favorites to win Group C, and they swiftly followed through on that pledge. Although #BIG and MOUZ gave the Danish challenging games, they managed to complete the task and are now looking forward to a simpler knockout path. MOUZ will be encouraged by their optimistic performance, as they came close to beating Heroic on both levels before eventually losing. MOUZ are back in action after a poor showing in Katowice, and they will believe that their current play can make a serious playoff push.
Match opener
The first few rounds of MOUZ’s chose game, Nuke, saw a close contest, with both sides earning eco wins as the rounds were exchanged back and forth. A carefully planned attack that punished Heroic’s forceful CT moves allowed MOUZ to ultimately gain the upper hand and stabilize on their T side. Before their Danish opponents could react, which they did by preventing an A rush cold, this gave the European blend a promising 8-3 advantage. Heroic seized the chance and managed to reduce the gap by half to 8-7.
Heroic took charge of the early stages of the second half and had a 10-8 advantage after a pistol victory and conversion, but MOUZ fought back with two strong defensive plays when the guns came up. Due to Heroic’s declining financial situation, the Danes decided to make a series of incomplete purchases rather than a save. Heroic never lost control of the situation, and their varied plan easily helped them win the few rounds required for a 16-12 triumph.
On Inferno, on their own map pick Heroic ran out a swift 4-0 lead to start off their T side before a five-seven force-buy from MOUZ put them on the board. The European team was able to regain their footing as a result, but Heroic continued to apply pressure and win rounds with both complete and force-buys, making it difficult for them to establish a defensive routine. MOUZ began to make sense toward the close of the first half, successfully stopping Heroic’s efforts to seize advanced map control, and entered the second half with a commanding 9-6 advantage.
MOUZ successfully won their T pistol to position themselves for triumph, but they were defeated by Heroic firearms in a post-plant. This could have easily knocked the wind out of MOUZ’s lungs, but instead they took a few round defeats in silence and then retaliated forcefully, triumphing in their own force-buy to finish 13-9. Heroic were not going to down easy and they corrected their defense at the crucial time to bring themselves back to 13-13, their run coming to an end after a risky play in the direction of A bombsite backfired. Heroic preserved in the closing moments of the map, riding the high of a Jakob #jabbi Nygaard ace all the way to a close 16-14 victory.
