MOUZ, one of the CS:GO teams expected to at least advance to the Legends Stage of the BLAST Paris Major, are surprisingly the first casualty of the Challengers Stage following a quick 2-0 sweep by GamerLegion on May 9.
The international lineup of frozen, Christopher “dexter” Nong, Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás, Jon “JDC” de Castro, and Dorian “xertioN” Berman made it all the way to the semifinals of the IEM Rio Major in November 2022 but fell incredibly flat after that instead of evolving as almost every fan predicted. A last-place finish at the BLAST Paris Major and a 0-4 record in maps played is the final nail in the coffin of a season that was already going bad as MOUZ had only reached the playoffs of one tier-one tournament this year—ESL Pro League season 17 in March.
MOUZ lost to Ninjas in Pyjamas (16-9 on Mirage) and OG (16-11 on Ancient) on May 8, the first day of the tournament, which sent them to elimination territory. GamerLegion were the underdogs prior to their match today, but they actually dominated MOUZ and swept them on Mirage (16-12) and Ancient (16-5).
All of the MOUZ players made it clear on social media that they are disappointed with the result after the series against GamerLegion was over. Torzsi apologized to the fans and said he didn’t show up, while JDC called it the worst performance of his life.
The Challengers Stage of the BLAST Paris Major will conclude on May 11, but at least three MOUZ players will finish among the lowest-rated competitors. JDC averaged a 0.63 rating, dexter posted a 0.68 rating, and torzsi averaged a 0.86 rating, according to HLTV.
Since the BLAST Paris Major is the final Valve-sponsored event for CS:GO due to the pending worldwide release of Counter-Strike 2 in the summer of 2023, MOUZ as an organization bids farewell to the game with one of its most disappointing performances at a Major ever.
