MOUZ hand Spirit first Swiss group stage loss in 668 days to make EPL playoffs

Beating MOUZ would have marked the 10th straight flawless Swiss stage from Spirit , but excellence from MOUZ across the board ensured that didn't come to fruition.

Spirit put a heavy focus on attacking B early doors on Dust2, but couldn't find their way past a stalwart defense by Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi and Oldřich "⁠PR⁠" Nový .

A pivot to A didn't pay off either as Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás and Adrian "⁠xelex⁠" Vincze combined to shut down that avenue of attack, and MOUZ stabilized after some early force-buy wars in the second half to seal victory on Spirit 's pick.

MOUZ 's excellence continued on Mirage, where xelex and Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman took over early on and donk remained lackluster.

Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia instead stepped up to break his team's slide, but they had to fight tooth and nail just to be competitive in rounds against a MOUZ that fired on all cylinders.

The result completes a 3-1 group stage campaign for Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov ’s side and leaves Spirit facing a deciding 2-2 match. With the victory, 1win climbed to 14th in the VRS rankings.

After opening their tournament with a defeat to Vitality , 1win have responded with consecutive victories over G2 , Legacy and now the world No.1. Their recovery has turned a difficult start into a playoff appearance earned against some of the event’s strongest opposition.

1win will have an estimated 87% chance of a Singapore Major invitation with a 5th-8th finish, rising to approximately 95% with a top-four result. The first map of Cache set the tone in the series.

1win raced into a 4-0 attacking lead, weathered Spirit ’s response to 4-4, and swept the remaining rounds of the half to lead 8-4. Another pistol round win tightened their grip after the switch, with Spirit managing just one T-side round before the map ended.

Andrey "⁠BELCHONOKK⁠" Yasinskiy spearheaded the victory with 18 kills and a 1.70 rating. Anubis initially offered little relief for Spirit . 1win surged ahead 5-0 on the attack and reached halftime with a commanding 9-3 advantage.

Three spots in the Spodek are still up for grabs heading into the final day of ESL Pro League Season 24's Swiss group stage, which saw Aurora , 1win , and Falcons advance with 3-1 records to join Vitality and MOUZ in the playoffs.

donk finally found some impact with two quad-kills to end the first half on eight frags, and started coming online after the swap with multi-kills and openers as Spirit started showing a bit of bite.