#Outsiders defeated #MOUZ 2-0 in the semi-final, sending the European mix home after putting up a 16-10 performance on Ancient, narrowly losing Overpass 14-16, and then humiliating their opponents with a 16-7 victory on #Inferno to end the series. This victory secured Outsiders a spot in the #IEMRioMajor grand final.

The winning team from #Heroic versus #FURIA will face the Russian team in the IEM Rio Major grand final on Sunday at 19:00. As a result, Dzhami #Jame Ali and Alexey #Qikert Golubev are making their first appearance in the championship match of a Major in three years. The two competitors advanced to the final round of the StarLadder Berlin Major in 2019 while representing AVANGAR, where they lost handily to Astralis and finished as runners-up (6-16, 5-16).

The Match Recap

On MOUZ's choice of Ancient, the first semi-final of the IEM Rio Major began. The dexter-led fivesome quickly showed why they were the right choice by winning the pistol round and the next three rounds to take a 4-0 lead on the famously challenging T-side. David “n0rb3r7” Danielyan fired three shots from the B site to put his team on the board.

The Russian team then used this as the impetus for their own five-round winning streak to seize the lead, 5-4. The remainder of the half saw Outsiders maintain their nearly impenetrable defense, with Jame and company only allowing MOUZ one extra round win at the end of their CT-side to record a comfortable five-round lead at the half.

In the end, it wasn't meant to be; Outsiders, armed with a mishmash buy consisting of Tec-9s and MAC-10s, managed to snatch away the final round they needed to lock in a 16-10 victory and send the series to Overpass. Torzsi put on an outstanding performance in the 25th round, in which the Hungarian added four more frags to his tally.

Map 2 – Overpass

When Overpass began, it was time for MOUZ to get going. The multinational lineup had plenty of responses for Outsiders' sluggish, methodical style, and they used them to go out to an early 4-1 lead on the CT-side. Outsiders quickly countered, though, altering up their offensive strategy to force a five-round tie, helped by high fragging production from Jame and Petr “famous” Bolyshev, who had a combined 15 kills.

From this point on, however, the tide had turned in favor of the European lineup, the dexter-led team overcoming a lone round victory by the Russians with four straight rounds of their own to complete the first half with a 9-6 advantage.

Once it was their turn to defend, the outsiders began to reduce the deficit and, owing to a six-round run to begin their run on the CT-side, took the lead over the Europeans for the first time in the map. The Russians added two to their tally and were within striking distance of victory, 14-11, thanks to a valiant 1v3 clutch from Jame in the 25th minute. MOUZ did partially awaken as the prospect of elimination approached, bringing the score back to a more even 11-12.

Unfortunately, with their backs against the wall and the possibility of losing in the semifinals, MOUZ suddenly made the decision to play. They put on an amazing performance on the T-side, chaining together five consecutive rounds to eke out a grueling 16-14 victory and advance the map to the Inferno final map.

Map 3 – Inferno

At the start of the Inferno decider, MOUZ kept up their winning streak after winning the pistol and the ensuing conversion to go up 2-0. However, Outsiders quickly recovered and outperformed their opponents' best T-side attempts to take a 7-2 advantage.

This success was partly attributed to Evgenii #FL1T Lebedev, who had amassed 10 kills by this point and had recently found his spike form. Despite this significant deficit, Dexter's team rallied and MOUZ pushed the score all the way back to one, 6-7, with well timed site executes by the mix team forcing the Russians to save every time.

When they shifted to the T-side, outsiders increased their efforts. With great ease, the Russian team increased their lead to 13-7, which gave them plenty of momentum. From this point on, MOUZ had little chance of stopping Outsiders from finishing the job; in the 22nd round, Jame pulled another 1vs3 clutch out of his hat to help his team reach match point; and in the 23rd round, they successfully attacked the A site to seal the 16-7 victory and berth in the grand final.