MOUZ and Astralis have secured places at the BLAST Bounty Season 2 Finals in Malta after wins in the tournament's online group stage, HLTV reports.
MOUZ became the first top-10 team on the Valve Regional Standings to qualify, beating FOKUS 2-0 in a match that featured eight academy graduates. The result capped a group stage run in which Dorian "xertioN" Berman's side did not drop a map.
Dust2 was decided by narrow margins, with MOUZ closing out a 13-10 win. FOKUS gave up early control after conceding a round to two saved weapons and a push into Middle by the MOUZ defense, which opened a 6-3 lead off a three-round run. FOKUS clawed two rounds back through Middle, but MOUZ took the pistol round after the swap and shut down the comeback.
On Mirage, a Dualies ace from Matias "Banjo" Kivistö was not enough to hold a 3-1 FOKUS lead against xertioN's T side. Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás produced two decisive rounds, including a quick flick that reversed an apparently lost round and a Five-SeveN round two rounds later that turned a low buy into momentum. Newcomer Oldřich "PR" Nový finished with a 0.93 rating in his outing for MOUZ.
Astralis take the long route past HOTU
Astralis qualified with a 2-1 win over HOTU, taking Cache 13-1, losing Nuke 7-13 and closing on Ancient 13-10. Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen's team had lost both of the maps they won here when the sides met in the StarLadder StarSeries Fall Europe qualifier on Wednesday.
Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard set the tone on Cache with the second-highest-rated map of his career at 2.52, with Victor "Staehr" Staehr close behind on 1.92. HOTU levelled the series on Nuke, where Aleksandr "dwushka" Pakhnevich recovered from an 0-8 showing on Cache and the side built a 9-3 half; back-to-back multi-kills from David "n0rb3r7" Danielyan kept Astralis from slipping further.
Ancient turned on clutches. HOTU opened 5-0 on the back of a 1v3 that caster Mohan "launders" Govindasamy had given a "0% chance" moments earlier, and Aidos "kade0" Khairzhan later converted a 1v2 with a defuse. A 1v3 from Love "phzy" Smidebrant the following round became the turning point, and Astralis used a pistol win to build the cushion they needed, with jabbi finishing on nine multi-kills and a 26-16 K-D.
The berth also sets up a LAN debut for Filip "NEO" Kubski, who joined Astralis as skipper during the off-season, after a run that also included a narrow opening win over Nemesis.
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