MOUZ send FaZe to BLAST Premier World Final 2024 lower bracket after 2 narrow maps

MOUZ defeated FaZe Clan by 2-0 on the opening day of the BLAST Premier World Final 2024 in Singapore.

The international powerhouses played a tight series on Oct. 30, but MOUZ were the better team on both maps by a narrow margin. FaZe are going to be kicking themselves as they could have won Inferno in regulation and because they lost two crucial rounds on Nuke to scrappy buys.

To make matters worse for FaZe, they now have to play against Natus Vincere for a spot in the playoffs. NAVI are the undisputed No. 1 team in the world right now, but they surprisingly lost to Astralis in the first match of the BLAST Premier World Final.

MOUZ, on the other hand, guaranteed their playoff spot and will face Astralis to determine who advances directly to the semifinals and who will have to play in the quarterfinals.

Here's everything you need to know about FaZe vs MOUZ at the BLAST Premier World Final, including the lineups, a detailed recap, and the post-match interview conducted by esports.gg reporter Nicholas Taifalos.

It was all in all a good map for those who enjoy great CS. You could never tell who was going to win until the very end, as both teams delivered a solid performance.

FaZe had the chance to end it in regulation though, but a perfect A bombsite split was enough for MOUZ to take it to overtime. Once the extra rounds kicked off, Brollan delivered what will certainly be one of the best highlights of the entire BLAST Premier World Final as he decimated four FaZe players with the AK-47.

And to make things worse for FaZe, Brollan wasn't the only one feeling it. Torzsi hit some crucial shots with the AWP too and helped MOUZ to win Inferno in OT by 16-13.

This was without a doubt one of the most heartbreaking maps of the CS2 season. FaZe got everything on their hands to at least take Nuke to OT, but they dropped the ball twice on their T-side in the second half.

First, they lost a round to just SMGs, pistols, and one Famas as MOUZ went for a lobby crunch. It was their opportunity to kill MOUZ's CT economy once and for all, but they couldn't hit their shots. You could tell how much that round hurt them as frozen slammed the desk pretty hard afterward, pulling his best Nikola "NiKo" Kovač impression.

Then, a few rounds later, FaZe had the opportunity to take Nuke to OT, but they a four-versus-two to MOUZ because Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo absolutely smashed them with the Five-Seven.

Esports.gg: Quite a rivalry between you and FaZe, but that's back-to-back now over them. What made this win different compared to Rio?

xertioN: "It was back-to-back but it was super close still. I think they played good game, we just played better. It's a bitter rivalry where they've been winning a lot, I hope we start winning a lot. I will never underestimate [FaZe], they've been super good for years."

Esports.gg: Inferno was mighty close with overtime but you guys seemed to shift into another gear in OT. Talk me through what was going through your minds at round 26 and beyond.

xertioN: "So I mean we've been super good at keeping our composure. We are a young team but we are developing as we get experience; as Jimpphat said we cannot use that as an excuse anymore. We had a talk with siuhy, in overtimes he said he wants to see us be more fierce and more confident and I think we're doing that super well."

Esports.gg: How has your Nuke developed over the course of the year and what's making it such a strength for you guys?

xertioN: "Nuke was a rough map for us before. We took it down to the basics; siuhy and our coaches sat down and looked over our playbook and I think we've got a lot of great things on the map, I don't think we've shown a third of it at this point. We just know what we need to do now, and we deserve a lot of credit for our Nuke at this moment."

Esports.gg: Through to the playoffs, and you avoid NaVi at least until the stage. Is the win boosting the confidence of the squad?

xertioN: "Not really, I think NaVi is the best team in the world and I want to play against them. I think they are amazing and it's really enjoyable to play against them, so I'm sad about that but Astralis is no opponent to underestimate at all. I think we are looking forward to playing and coming out on top."

That's all for now. Stay tuned to esports.gg for more BLAST Premier World Final 2024 coverage directly from Singapore.