ESL Pro League S16: Liquid upset MOUZ to move to the semifinal

Team Liquid defeated MOUZ in a best-of-three series to advance to the ESL Pro League Season 16 upper bracket semifinals. The North American team’s subsequent encounter will be against Cloud9, while MOUZ’s time in Malta has come to a disappointing end with a 2-0 defeat.

The North American team dominated on two consecutive maps, topping MOUZ on Ancient 16-11 after winning a hard-fought match on Inferno 16-10. Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski and Josh “oSee” Ohm were Team Liquid’s heaviest hitters throughout the two maps, as the pair topped the scoreboards with 1.27 and 1.27 ratings. Despite the lopsided loss, David “⁠frozen⁠” Čerňanský had a good showing for MOUZ on both maps, recording a total of 52 kills and the HLTV rating of 1.39, the highest of the match.

Match Summary 

The best of three series kicked off on Inferno, with the North American side winning the pistol round. Nick “⁠nitr0⁠” Cannella and the squad maintained the momentum throughout the half, gaining a gigantic 7-1 lead while only dropping a single round. MOUZ tried to stage a comeback and won the eighth round to halt the North American’s hot streak. Liquid, however, derailed their momentum right away, winning four more rounds to close the first half with an 11:4 lead.

Despite switching the sides, Liquid appeared invincible in the first two rounds of the second half, taking the lead further to 13-4. In round 18, MOUZ finally put an end to the bloodshed, stopping their opponents’ traction, and eventually cutting the gap to 10-13. Despite their valiant efforts, the North American side hammered them in three straight rounds and secured a comfortable 16:10 victory on Inferno.

After a tough awakening, MOUZ came out hot in the second map Ancient, winning back-to-back rounds to go straight up 3-0. Liquid retaliated and equalized the series almost immediately, securing three straight rounds to take the score 3-3. The North American team upheld its dominance and finished the first half with a 9-6 score, losing just three rounds in a commanding defensive performance.

With oSee’s leading the team in fragging, Liquid won five straight rounds in a convincing way to take a 14-7 lead. Frozen and MOUZ didn’t give up easily, though, and secured back-to-back rounds to cut the deficit to 11-15. The lead, however, proved to be too great to overcome, as the North American easily picked the final round to end the map and the series with a stunning victory. The 22-year-old, frozen, once again stood up for MOUZ, recording a 1.39 HLTV rating CT to keep his team in the contest while the rest of the team appeared inconsistent.

The victory moves Liquid into the upper bracket semi-final, where they will face Cloud 9 on October 1. As for MOUZ, they are eliminated from the event with a respectable 5-8th place finish and $37,500 in prize money.

Header: ESL Gaming