MOUZ came from behind to beat Natus Vincere 2-1 at StarLadder StarSeries Fall in Barcelona, a result that eliminated NAVI from the $500,000 tournament in last place, HLTV reported. MOUZ dropped the opening map on Cache before winning Inferno and Mirage.
The defeat also carried ranking consequences. According to HLTV, NAVI now sit outside the top 15 of Valve's Regional Standings (VRS), and the loss cost them the chance to earn more than 70 Valve points. HLTV noted that it leaves ESL Pro League 24 and PGL Masters Bucharest as NAVI's last two events before the Major cutoff.
How the series played out
NAVI picked Cache, the first time they had played the map since it returned to the active pool. HLTV suggested the choice may have been a punish pick, since MOUZ had lost on Cache to NRG the day before. It did not start well for NAVI: their first half on the T side ended with a 3-9 deficit, and HLTV credited 1v2 clutches from Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy and Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov with keeping the gap from growing wider.
The second half turned the map around. A triple kill from Drin "makazze" Shaqiri in the pistol round began a dominant NAVI run, and MOUZ won just one opening duel and posted 14 frags across a 1-11 stretch on their T side, which handed the map to NAVI.
MOUZ answered on Inferno, opening a 7-0 lead on the T side before NAVI strung four rounds together. NAVI then won the second-half pistol through a 2v3 post-plant and converted with another 1v2 clutch from b1t, but MOUZ held on defense to take the map and force a decider.
Mirage was one-sided. MOUZ built a 10-2 lead, NAVI lost the conversion round that followed, and their comeback attempt ended when MOUZ closed the map with an A-site execute in the 21st round.
HLTV described NAVI's series as one of slow starts across all three maps for Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen's side, with the team recovering on Cache and pushing MOUZ on Inferno but never on Mirage.
We all know where we are currently and how we are playing is not good. We're in danger of not doing anything. But, to be fair, we don't even deserve to play at the Major if this is the way we play.
Aleksib also told Banks that it was hard to add any more pressure on the team and that it needed to find something to get it rolling, while acknowledging that its current form did not look good.
