When you think back to the CSGO Pro in 2018, what comes to mind first? At the top of the list is likely to be the 2018 Boston Major, where Cloud9 beat the Galactic Battleship FaZe Clan to win the first Major title for North America. Maybe you think of the beginning of the Astralis dynasty, or s1mple carrying NaVi slowly forward. I'm sure only a small percentage of people think back to MOUZ.
Mouz's 2018 is often overlooked due to the fact that the next MOUZ lineup led by Karrigan is too eye-catching, and 2018 is worth remembering when discussing the most important and event-richest years in CSGO history. The team had a vibrant year with three players making it to the top 20 of the year, and it was also a fruitful year for the team, winning three championships against a team with a larger player budget and more anticipation from the audience.
After ESL One Cologne 2017 and PGL Krakow Major's defeats, the international squad assembled in the second half of 2017, when the team was still called mousesports. And already has reliable and experienced veteran Chris J and coach Lmbt, stable sniper oskar, FPL rising star ropz. Although they already have a certain foundation, if they want to lift the championship trophy, they need more. As a result, Denis and loWel were turned away by the team.
The first to sign with the team was suNny, a Finnish rifleman who impressed with his experience at PENTA and helped the team secure a place in the PGL Krakow Major through his excellent performances. The next signing is STYKO from HellRaisers, a substitute from Slovakia who happens to be a player who can balance the already firepower team.
This combination of players from different countries was normally compared to the FaZe Clan, and soon the swordsports were called "low-end FaZes". Although MOUZ was quickly labeled, in a very short time they were able to achieve results that did not match their own value. The team, led by ChrisJ, made appearances in several competitions late at the end of the year and managed to win the trophy in the ESG Tour Mykonos and ROG Masters 2017 EMEA Finals.
2018 started out as a heavyweight event, with ELEAGUE Boston Major in North America as scheduled. MOUZ advanced to the knockout rounds with an imperfect 3-2 finish, and victories over NaVi and Renegades made them look less mediocre than their record had shown. If it weren't for FaZe in the first round of the knockout round, this MOUZ would definitely have the strength to reach the semi-finals. But no if, in the showdown with FaZe, although they brought us a very competitive and full of highlights Nuke (the famous scene suNny jumped off the building, NiKo stepped on the fire double kill), but with the bland performance on the Cache, MOUZ was eliminated.
After the Boston Major, MOUZ scored a streak of victories over a period of time, with the team winning back-to-back at the StarSeries i-League S4 and V4 Future Esports Festivals, a real title, in which they beat more mature teams and showed true depth of firepower. During this time, they were dubbed "Miragesports", and their mastery of Mirage helped them beat NaVi, Liquid and Virtus.pro in BO3. At the same time, their strength in Train and Inferno should not be underestimated.
During this fiery period, the MOUZ showed their level of firepower, as more than one player could lead in kills. It is no exaggeration to say that Oskar was one of the best players in the world at some point in 2018, never falling behind against top snipers. At his side was suNny, who was always able to surprise the team with his sand eagle, turning over one economic bureau after another. The most eye-catching is the ropz, the young Estonian player showed maturity and calm far beyond his age, and his calmness in the endgame helped the team to have an extraordinary performance at this stage. STYKO plays an important role in balancing the team, and chrisJ can also take over the game with a second sniper at a critical moment.
Balancing this cannot be ignored. Although Ropz, suNny and oskar have earned the title of star player at different points in the year, the ways they play are complementary. In hindsight, we know that the balance between the star trio is very delicate, and the play of the two supporting characters is the key to their brilliance. However, after the team's unfortunate defeat in the final of ESL One Belo Horizonte, rumors of a possible squad change began to circulate.
In July 2018, the club announced the signing of Snax to replace STYKO as the starter. Despite removing the supporting contestants to make room for the former star contestants, the audience did not doubt the move at all. After all, Snax is a very capable player, and analysts hope he can use his talent to reinvent himself as a more powerful auxiliary player who helps the other three stars shine.
Unfortunately, there are almost no honeymoon periods in this lineup. They made their debut at ESL One Cologne 2018, but it was also the beginning of their collapse. They only won North in the match, losing to G2, who had not yet risen to the occasion and The Mixzz came off the bench, and to make matters worse, they played Mirage twice in the game and failed, and their lucky charms were invalidated.
When the team lost both in 2018's ELEAGUE CSGO Premier and DreamHack Master 2018, it was clear that the balance of the team was upset. By then, it would be nearly impossible for fans to accept a transfer from Snax, especially given the rumors that MOUZ spent a huge buyout fee to buy Snax from Virtus.pro.
Either way, the new squad is poised to face their biggest challenge, faceit London Major. But their performance can only be described as chaotic, in the London Major, MOUZ teams are ranked lower than their own in the world, but they have lost to NIP, FaZe and MIBR. The new Legends' 0-3 exit was a marked setback from their last Major, leaving everyone desperate for Snax's transfer. But almost immediately after the loss, the team traveled to New York for the ESL One.
Astralis, the world's number one at the time, did not participate in the competition, so the ESL One New York title favorites at the time were Liquid, FaZe and NaVi. However, MOUZ excelled in the group stage, beating the emerging NRG in the semi-finals and receiving tickets for the fourth final of the year. The final showdown with Liquid was a run-in, with each member of the MOUZ playing their part on 5 maps, and the final match came to the decider map Mirage.
Chris J's team had already achieved a big advantage at the time, but they lost 14-7 and were chased by Liquid in a row. After 23 rounds, Liquid scored his first kill and gained a further numerical advantage as the North American crowd assembled to prepare to pinch point A. Facing 3v5, Chris J decided to stand up and single-handedly block Liquid's attack with a lightning-fast ACE. MOUZ then easily took the map and won their last title of 2018.
However, the victory in New York was short-lived, and the players knew that this could not be replicated. They stopped playing after the StarSeries i-League S6 failed to make it to the knockout rounds. STYKO, who had previously been loaned to Cloud9, was recalled by the team in October to replace Snax in IEM Chicago. After that they improved slightly in their pre-New Year's day and moved into the knockout stages in the final few competitions.
The unfortunate thing for fans is that this lineup doesn't last until 2019. Despite their strengths, the lineup is flawed: Ropz is still a young, developing player, OSKAR's gradually apparent instability has not been enough to sustain the top snipers, and suNny's performance gap in the group stage and knockout rounds (1.17 and 1.05) is also a stumbling block to the team's progress. After the katowice defeat in January, everything fell apart and their disappointing performances at Minor allowed the club to make a radical overhaul of the squad, starting with chrisJ and STYKO coming on as substitutes in early February, with a brand new trio – Woxic, Frozen and Karrigan – officially leaving, and Chris J reintegrating into the new squad.
Despite the ups and downs of 2018, MOUZ's experience that year was a wonderful highlight and achievement: 9 times in the top four, 4 in the finals, 3 times to win the cup. It's all about the paper players they face are worth several times their teams. In football, there's a phrase to describe players who are sought after by a small group of fans after a brief outburst of competitive status: The streets will never forget. Perhaps this is the best way to describe THE MOUZ: not the world is invincible, but a team that a small number of people will never forget.