Seven months after Brollan handed him the calls, the Israeli has MOUZ winning more maps, fragging harder himself and arriving in Singapore as the team to beat.
MOUZ beat The MongolZ 3-0 in the IEM Beijing grand final on Sunday, 13-5 on Mirage, 13-6 on Dust2 and 13-4 on Inferno, and xertioN was named MVP of the event. It is their second title since he took over the calls, and one more sign of how far the team has come in seven months.
When MOUZ benched Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin and Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo on 18 April, the bigger change was the one nobody could see on the roster sheet. Dorian “xertioN” Berman, until then an entry fragger, took over as in-game leader.
The first Valve Regional Standings after the switch, on 4 May, had MOUZ 11th, their lowest place of 2026. The latest, from 2 November, has them first with 1,960 points, 38 ahead of Vitality.
A slow start, then a climb
MOUZ had not won a title in 2026 before the change. Their best results under Brollan were third at PGL Cluj-Napoca and fourth at IEM Kraków, and the last event before the reset, IEM Rio, ended in fifth to sixth place after a 0-2 loss to Spirit.
The rebuild did not click overnight. xertioN called the IEM Cologne Major with Brollan back in the lineup, because Valve’s rules only allowed one change, and MOUZ went out with a 1-3 record. Afterwards coach Dennis “sycrone” Nielsen told HLTV that whatever happened with the rest of the roster, the captain was staying:
I’m set on xertioN as an IGL. I think he has a very good understanding of what it means to facilitate and communicate.
Oldřich “PR” Nový arrived from GamerLegion in July to complete the five, and two weeks later MOUZ won BLAST Bounty Summer, beating Spirit 3-1 in the final.
| Event | Place |
|---|---|
| PGL Astana 2026 | 3rd |
| CS Asia Championships 2026 | 3rd |
| IEM Cologne Major 2026 | 12-14th |
| BLAST Bounty Summer 2026 | 1st |
| Esports World Cup 2026 | 5-8th |
| BLAST Open Fall 2026 | 2nd |
| StarSeries Fall 2026 | 5-6th |
| ESL Pro League S24 | 2nd |
| PGL Masters Bucharest 2026 | 3rd |
| IEM Beijing 2026 | 1st |
More maps won
The difference shows up in the map record. From 1 January to the day before the change, MOUZ won 30 of 55 maps, or 55%. From 18 April to the eve of the Beijing final they won 87 of 130, or 67%, and the current five with PR have gone 60-26, a 70% win rate.
An IGL who frags more, not less
Taking over the calls usually costs a player some of his numbers. xertioN went the other way. Before the switch in 2026 he was on a 1.01 K/D and +10 over 55 maps. As captain, he is on 1.08 and +147 over 130 maps, according to HLTV’s stats.
| Player | Before (55 maps) | Since 18 April (130 maps) |
|---|---|---|
| xertioN | 1.01 K/D, +10 | 1.08 K/D, +147 |
| torzsi | 1.16 K/D, +108 | 1.29 K/D, +440 |
| Spinx | 1.16 K/D, +115 | 1.12 K/D, +210 |
| xelex | 1.04 K/D, +67 | |
| PR | 1.08 K/D, +93 (86 maps) |
xertioN explained the change to HLTV at BLAST Bounty in July. He now calls almost every round on both sides, and says he spends more time on theory and demos than before:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I want to be a different type of IGL, not a liability, but someone who can frag out and maybe even save us with his mechanics and individual ability.
The biggest winner is torzsi. The AWPer has gone from +108 to +440 and from a 1.16 to a 1.29 K/D, the best of anyone in the team. Spinx has held his level, while the two 18-year-olds, xelex and PR, are both on the right side of the K-D.
From “a step back” to Major favourites
In the same July interview, xertioN described the new roster as “taking a step back to take two steps forward” and said MOUZ had lowered their expectations. Three months later they are top of the VRS, which gives them a Stage 3 invite to the PGL Major Singapore, where the eight invited teams start on 2 December.
They will go there with two titles since the switch, the top spot in the VRS and a captain whose own numbers have gone up, not down, since he took the calls.
