MOUZ = Group Stage Warriors? - News Flash #8
Despite MOUZ's incredible consistency in 2024, they have no title or even a Grand Final appearance to show for it. Let's find out why.
MOUZ is extremely easy to root for - likable, young, talented players in an underdog org taking on the world with relatively few resources to compete with the CS2 elite.
With that in mind, it’s a shame they continue to crumble under the pressure in big playoff matches against more experienced opposition.
But what is the reason for their arena shortcomings?
Young Age
As seen in the image above, MOUZ’s roster is unbelievably young across the board, especially among the Counter-Strike elite.
Their average age sits at a remarkably low 20.5 - the best team that’s younger than that is TheMongolz (19.6 average age), currently sitting at #19 in HLTV’s ranking.
Despite their youth, MOUZ’s players are far more experienced than one might expect:
siuhy has played in a Major Grand Final with GamerLegion (BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023)
Brollan has been playing tier-one Counter-Strike since 2018 and his fnatic days
torzsi’s tenure on MOUZ’s main roster is close to 2.5 years, with xertioN joining not long after (Aug 2022)
all of them (apart from Brollan) got a taste of LAN competition early in their careers in the WePlay Academy League, playing under the MOUZ NXT banner
The cumulative experience they gained through their short careers is a big reason why they are so competitive on the world stage without veterans and big names on their roster.
However, the lack of those authority figures seems to hurt them in the important playoff matches, where they don’t have anyone to turn to at crucial moments to calm the team down and make everyone focus.
Big Stage Underperformers
While MOUZ can take on anybody in the Group Stage, their 2024 playoff performances leave a lot to be desired from the youngsters.
The biggest issue the international squad faces on the stage is the individual drop-off of some of their players - namely Brollan and xertioN - against the top 5 and top 10 opposition.
Although Brollan has been a handy replacement for frozen, who departed the team in late 2023 to join FaZe, the Swede’s form in the big-money games has been questionable - a 1.13 rating against the top 20 vs 0.91 against the top 5.
Much like Brollan, xertioN often disappears against high-level opposition, which is detrimental to MOUZ’s chances, due to the importance of his role and positions on the map.
The Israeli rifler heavily contributes to MOUZ’s space-taking protocols and is often the first man in, when taking an area of the map. His massive regression against the top 5 teams - from 1.11 vs top 20 to 0.78 vs top 5 - makes it near impossible for MOUZ to take control and dictate the pace of the game.
Similarities With Astralis
Before Astralis became the most dominant team in the history of CS:GO, they were known as chokers, who never made it past the semi-finals of any tournament.
Only after failing numerous times in several big event playoffs, the Danes finally broke through their mental barrier, winning the ELEAGUE Major 2017 Grand Final and kick-starting the infamous “Astralis Era”.
Almost 10 years later, MOUZ find themselves in a similar position - a roster full of young talents that can’t get over the line in big event playoffs.
If MOUZ are to follow in Astralis’ path, they need to continue getting the reps in high-pressure matches against the world’s best, and eventually, they should come out on the other side as winners.
While there’s very little chance that they echo Astralis’ multi-year dominance over the Counter-Strike scene, MOUZ could become a realistic championship contender team very soon.
Header image: @mousesports on X
Stats: HLTV.org