Mouz has reached the knockout round at the "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" major IEM Rio. The Hamburg organization had to tremble in the Legends Stage until the last round, but won strongly against Ence with 2:1 (16:5; 8:16; 16:9).

"I'm not an emotional person, but I'm on the verge of crying," Mouz announcer Christopher "dexter" Nong said in an interview after the game. "We've even focused more on growing as individuals than working on our game. But all the people at Mouz supported us.»

Rio Major: First playoffs for Mouz since 2018

The group stage was hard work for the team peppered with ex-Academy talents, but it paid off with victories against Team Liquid and Team Vitality. The deciding game against Ence was also a show of strength, but Mouz fought back impressively on the third card after a bad start and made it to the major playoffs for the first time in almost five years.

BIG is not represented there, although the team had three chances to advance after two opening victories. Because in best-of-three series, the Germans did not win a single card against Furia, Fnatic and Natus Vincere and thus did not make it across the finish line.

IEM Rio: FaZe creates a novelty in CS:GO history

The biggest surprise came with FaZe Clan, one of the co-favorites. After bankruptcies against Cloud9 and Vitality, the winner of the last major in May was already facing the end on the third day. In the third match, the team also lost to the blatant outsider Bad News Eagles with a score of 1:2 after a long extension. FaZe is thus the first defending champion to drop out of the following major without a win, in the CS: GO history.