ESL Pro League 15: Fnatic wins against MOUZ

fnatic secured a 3:1 victory in group A of the ESL Pro League Season 15 with a 2:1 win against MOUZ. With this win fnatic was able to win a decisive match, even though they had to play with a substitute player in a difficult situation shortly before the tournament. Now nothing stands in the way for fnatic to make the playoffs.

MOUZ probably has no more chances to reach the ESL playoffs

Fnatic’s streak started with a 9-16 loss on Nuke, which quickly turned for the better on Inferno as they took the map 16-10 before claiming victory on Mirage 16-8. With that result, things are looking bad for the German team MOUZ. They are as good as out of the race for the playoffs and would need a win against LookingForOrg today, Sunday March 13.

Fnatic starts mediocre, finishes strong

The series started with MOUZ picking Nuke. Despite taking a force buy in the second round, Christopher “dexter” Nong’s team quickly retaliated with a last-minute push on the B-Bomb side, giving them a 7-1 lead. But fnatic, who had no intention of giving up so easily, quickly found their strength again and won five of the following seven rounds thanks to Valentin “poizon” Vasilev, who was already in excellent form the day before.

The second half started with fnatic equalizing after winning the pistol and the following two rounds, but that was all they could take from their offensive half. Once the MOUZ defense came in, no one could stop them and they managed to win the last seven rounds 16-9.

Unlike the first map, Inferno started with a strong fnatic. The team quickly built a 6-0 advantage, thanks to the impressive performance of William “mezii” Merriman. AWPer Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás managed several opening kills that gave MOUZ a 9-6 halftime advantage. Still, it wasn’t enough for the German team MOUZ. fnatic managed a 16:10 win on Inferno and that made the score 1-1.

Difficulties for MOUZ

The last map was Mirage and fnatic took control right away with a 7:0 lead. MOUZ fought back and managed to score four in a row, but that streak was quickly ended in Round 12 when fnatic’s Deagles stopped their play on the B-Bomb side. In Round 19, MOUZ ran into unexpected trouble as Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt’s monitor suddenly malfunctioned in a 1v2 situation, forcing him to play clutch while looking at another player’s screen by necessity. In the end, fnatic won the decider 16-8 and the series 2-1.