Three teams from the top six have fallen at the hands of MOUZ in Malta, and they look to take the scalp of the world's No. 7 in the title decider.
MOUZ reach a grand final three months after adding siuhy and Jimpphat
MOUZ have joined Natus Vincere in the grand final of ESL Pro League Season 18 after taking down ENCE in a 2-1 series (Mirage 16-13, Vertigo 11-16, Nuke 16-8).
The team around Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek has continued an upset rampage through the tournament in Malta, adding the world's No. 2 team to their previous playoffs scalps of G2 (#3) and FaZe (#6), ending Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer's team's streak of four grand finals appearances in a row in the process.
MOUZ began the series with a closely-fought Mirage in which they had to stave off ENCE's comeback attempt from 5-12 down spearheaded by Guy "NertZ" Iluz. In the end, though, a labored 1v2 clutch from David "frozen" Čerňanský helped them close out the map.
ENCE responded on Vertigo, where a lacking CT side cost MOUZ a chance to end it in two, but they made up for that in spades with a dominant showing on Nuke. MOUZ were more than ready for their opponents' signature fast-paced style as they decimated ENCE on the defense with an 11-4 half, and had no trouble closing it out with a pistol round to boot.
The title decider between MOUZ and Natus Vincere is set to take place on Sunday at 16:00 and will be played in a best-of-five series, which will come as a big test of the map pool to two teams who made substantial lineup changes in the summer off-season.
Date
Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
01/10/2023
Natus Vincere16:00 MOUZ
Match
MOUZ will likely go into the final as slight favorites given that their wins in the last three rounds of the playoffs bracket came up against three of the world's top-six teams. NAVI, in comparison, have yet to lose a map at the event but faced lower-ranked opposition in Eternal Fire and Monte in the bracket stage.
ESL Pro League Season 18Best of 3 ENCEMatchpage 1 2 30th September 2023 MOUZ 13Mirage 16 16Vertigo 11 8Nuke 16
ENCE
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Álvaro 'SunPayus' GarcíaSunPayus
58 - 50
+8
70.0
1.14
Guy 'NertZ' IluzNertZ
58 - 49
+9
70.8
1.11
Pavle 'Maden' BoškovićMaden
54 - 52
+2
80.6
1.08
Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferSnappi
45 - 57
-12
67.0
0.84
Paweł 'dycha' Dychadycha
39 - 55
-16
69.9
0.84
MOUZ
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsástorzsi
69 - 46
+23
80.4
1.23
Jimi 'Jimpphat' SaloJimpphat
55 - 44
+11
74.8
1.23
Dorian 'xertioN' BermanxertioN
56 - 60
-4
85.8
1.12
David 'frozen' Čerňanskýfrozen
47 - 44
+3
69.5
1.08
Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradeksiuhy
35 - 61
-26
54.7
0.75
Eternal Fire #25 Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşÖzgür 'woxic' EkerBuğra 'Calyx' ArkınAli 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın Sezgin 'Fabre' Kalaycı ENCE #2 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferGuy 'NertZ' IluzPavle 'Maden' BoškovićPaweł 'dycha' DychaÁlvaro 'SunPayus' García Eetu 'sAw' Saha Natus Vincere #7 Oleksandr 's1mple' KostylievAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenMihai 'iM' IvanValeriy 'b1t' VakhovskiyJustinas 'jL' Lekavicius Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradek Age: 21 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 723 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.69 FaZe #6 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenRobin 'ropz' KoolHelvijs 'broky' Saukants Filip 'NEO' Kubski David 'frozen' Čerňanský Age: 21 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1365 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.64 Marco 'Snappi' Pfeiffer Age: 33 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 1772 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.68 Guy 'NertZ' Iluz Age: 24 Team: ENCE Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 430 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.68 MOUZ #11 David 'frozen' ČerňanskýKamil 'siuhy' SzkaradekÁdám 'torzsi' TorzsásJimi 'Jimpphat' SaloDorian 'xertioN' Berman Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen Monte #13 Viktor 'sdy' OrudzhevAlexander 'br0' BroVolodymyr 'Woro2k' VeletniukSergiy 'DemQQ' DemchenkoSzymon 'kRaSnaL' Mrozek Sergey 'lmbt' Bezhanov G2 #3 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačJustin 'jks' SavageRasmus 'HooXi' NielsenIlya 'm0NESY' Osipov Jan 'Swani' Müller