MOUZ dump defending champions Spirit out of the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 in marathon series

Another day, another big fat L for my Austin Major Pick’Ems. MOUZ have secured a top-four finish at the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, after dumping defending Major champions out of contention in what was a thrilling affair. This one was a marathon, not a sprint – let’s get into it.

MOUZ need all three maps to reverse-sweep Spirit

After Spirit won out in a crazy 46-round Mirage to open the series, the smart money was on the Shanghai Major champions to get the job done here. However, MOUZ set the tone coming into map two, handing Spirit their first Dust2 loss in almost two months as they evened the odds in the BLAST Austin Major Quarter-Finals.

It was the same story on map three, with MOUZ having too much tactical nous to offer Spirit, who have often relied on sheer firepower to get over the line in recent times. Despite a stellar series from donk, who finished on a 1.30 rating, disappearing acts from sh1ro and magixx as well as a very rough day for chopper meant this was one hurdle too many.

This may be MOUZ’s finest show of resilience yet

Coming into this series, the head-to-head matchups in 2025 made for positive reading for MOUZ. They had beaten Spirit 2:1 on two occasions in 2025, but the form of both teams throughout the BLAST Austin Major meant that it was going to be more difficult than ever to make it a threepeat. Ultimately, MOUZ’s Group Stage narrative was one of mental resilience, dueling back from 0:2 to make it through to the Playoffs, so it was never going to be a walk in the park for Spirit.

However, after losing map one in such heartbreaking fashion, throwing a total of seven map points away, you’d forgive MOUZ if they had crumbled and cruised to a swift exit. With the adrenaline out of their system, a crash in energy felt inevitable.

Yet, that was not the story MOUZ were about to allow to be written. Even on map three, they fell to 8:4 at the half, with Brollan and xertioN sitting at 0:11 and 1:11 respectively. It was a terrible showing, and had it continued, they were in for a very short Nuke indeed.

So they dusted themselves off once again. Licked their wounds in the half-time break, and got to work chipping away at the Spirit lead. MOUZ’s most significant achievement here was neutralizing donk in the second half, who went 4:10 across his team’s T-side. He was not alone in this – all of Spirit’s T-side was thoroughly limp, from the tactical ideas to the firepower. When all was said and done, chopper simply ran out of ideas against a tactically flexible MOUZ side.

When Spirit’s time was up and the reigning champions were eliminated, the scoreline ended 13:10. Close, sure, but it’s a scoreline that doesn’t tell the whole story about MOUZ’s incredible mental strength to take this one the distance. Now, it seems likely they’ll face Vitality in the next round again. They’ll be underdogs once more, but in this Major, who knows what could happen?