r1nkle went 31-18 as G2 came back from 8-12 on Ancient, before MATYS and NertZ carried them through Inferno.
Coming into Hong Kong, G2 had lost six series in a row and had gone out of three straight events without a series win. MOUZ had not dropped a map since PGL Masters Bucharest. On Wednesday, the clear underdogs beat the IEM Beijing champions. G2 Esports beat MOUZ 2-1 (Nuke 7-13, Ancient 16-14, Inferno 13-7) in Group B of BLAST Rivals 2026 Season 2. That puts them one win from the semi-finals.
G22-1
MOUZStatsNuke 7-13, Ancient 16-14, Inferno 13-7
MATYS
xelex
PRNuke looked like more of the same
The opening map gave little hint of what was coming. Nuke used to be G2’s permaban. This season they have let it into their pool, and MOUZ picked it straight away. G2 levelled the first half at 6-6 after taking an M4 off MOUZ in a force-buy. On the CT side MOUZ then won seven of the last eight rounds, and xertioN closed the map with a quad kill. Lotan “Spinx” Giladi went 19-8. NertZ finished with three kills in 20 rounds and 34.0 ADR.
r1nkle on the AWP
Ancient was G2’s pick, and it decided the series. G2 won the pistol round and led 5-1 on the T side, but MOUZ hit back with a string of 1vX rounds, including a 1v3 from xelex, and went 12-8 up. G2 won the next four rounds to force overtime, then took it 4-2.
Artem “r1nkle” Moroz finished Ancient 31-18 with 93.3% KAST and won the last round. He joined G2 as their AWPer in June, and his numbers since then have been at the centre of the criticism of the team. NertZ, so quiet on Nuke, added 26-20. The defeat ended a run of 14 straight map wins for MOUZ, stretching back to Bucharest.
After the match r1nkle said that the change was in how he reads the game, not in his duels.
I was mainly focusing about myself, and I think right now I’m doing a pretty good job on understanding the overview and I’ll keep doing it and keep working hard.
MATYS and NertZ finish the job
G2 started Inferno on the T side and won the first five rounds, and they led 7-5 at the half. NertZ won the second pistol round with a clutch on A.
Late in the map, MATYS won a round on A almost on his own, picking off four MOUZ players from the back of the site, and G2 were soon on match point. He finished Inferno 19-10 with 90.6 ADR. NertZ had 95.0% KAST on the map.
“It feels really good after the struggles we had obviously on these three tournaments”, r1nkle said on BLAST’s broadcast. “I think it feels really good to have a win finally.”
Spirit for G2, FUT for MOUZ
G2 now play Team Spirit in the Group B winners’ match on , and the winner goes straight to Saturday’s semi-finals. Spirit beat FUT 2-1 earlier on Wednesday despite losing a map 13-0. MOUZ drop into the elimination match against FUT and stand-in coolio at . The loser of that match goes home, four days after MOUZ won IEM Beijing without losing a map.
Read next
CS2G2’s Bucharest collapse ends in last place as DENDELE win 2-12 weeks ago
CS2Eight Major teams get one last test at BLAST Rivals in Hong Kong21 hours ago
CS2All five MOUZ players collect HLTV awards from Beijing1 day ago
Top storyFalleN turns back the clock as FURIA sweep Legacy in Hong Kong7 hours ago
