One of Europe’s heavyweights met North America’s upstarts in a clash that set the tone for the weekend. MOUZ came in as clear favorites, a disciplined unit with depth across the map pool. M80 arrived as underdogs, hungry to swing above their seeding and turn belief into an upset. High pace, pressure rounds, and a loud London crowd framed a matchup that promised more than a routine result.
Pley is at BLAST Open London – you can watch all our interviews on our YouTube channel here.
Ancient
The best-of-three opened on Ancient, M80’s pick. MOUZ won the pistol for a 2-0 start, but M80 struck back with the first rifle round and edged ahead 3-2 on CT. From there MOUZ settled on defense and took an 8-4 lead at the half.
After the switch, M80 grabbed 5 of the first 6 to close the gap, but MOUZ steadied with composed holds and late multi-kills to finish it 13-10.
Mirage
On MOUZ’s pick, a sweep looked likely, but M80 had other ideas. They dominated on defense and sent MOUZ into halftime down 10-2 after a string of sharp site holds.
MOUZ dropped the second pistol to 11-2, won the force-buy, then rattled off four more to make it 11-7. M80 closed from there: SLAXZ- delivered the round for map point, and s1n opened A in a 2v4 to seal a 13-9 equalizer.
Inferno
The decider map for the first quarterfinal of the Blast Open London was Inferno. MOUZ started strong on the CT-side taking a quick and easy 3-0 lead before M80 got their first rounds. MOUZ dominated the rest of the half and went to the T-side with a 10-2 lead.
MOUZ won the pistol on the T-side and closed out the map cleanly 13-3 and moved on to the semi finals where they will play Vitality on Saturday.
