MOUZ are through to the second round of the playoffs in BLAST Premier Europe Showdown following a two-map series against Astralis.

The current world No.5 team showed their offensive prowess with a dominant display against Astralis, who recorded their fourth loss in five matches since Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth stepped down from the starting lineup. The Danish team almost pulled off an incredible comeback from 4-12 down on Overpass, only to falter in overtime. Train was a one-sided street as MOUZ reigned supreme with a masterclass from Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool, who put up a 1.97 rating to set up a quarter-final clash with ENCE in the quarter-finals.

Astralis went for an Overpass pick hoping to capitalise on MOUZ' poor run on the map, where Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's side had lost all three games played in recent months. But their defense looked very flimsy in the opening half, their players seemingly afraid of taking risks as most duels were won by MOUZ, who enjoyed a commanding 11-4 lead at the break.

Things went from bad to worse for the Danes after the side swap as they were shut out by the MOUZ defense while trying to enter the A site, with Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker proving key with three quick taps. Astralis fought back immediately, however, and began to eat away at the deficit, but they couldn't keep their opponents from hitting map point at 15-13.

ropz produced a world-class performance on Train

It looked as though the game was about to come to an end, but MOUZ' B defense, which had been a major issue throughout the half, collapsed in the final two rounds as Astralis forced overtime. Their efforts would be in vain, though, as karrigan's troops picked themselves up after regulation and secured two rounds in both halves to lock down this hard-fought map.

MOUZ kept the momentum going and jumped out to a 5-1 lead on Train following a quad-kill by ropz in the pistol round. That was the beginning of a dream half from the Estonian talent, who racked up 20 kills as he powered his team to a 10-5 lead. Unsurprisingly, MOUZ' domination continued into the second half as they picked up six rounds without response en route to a quick victory.

BLAST Premier Spring 2020 Europe ShowdownBest of 3 MOUZMatchpage 2 0 5th June 2020 Astralis 19Overpass 16 16Train 5

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Robin 'ropz' Koolropz	54 - 23	+31	90.7	1.53
Özgür 'woxic' Ekerwoxic	44 - 30	+14	85.6	1.40
Chris 'chrisJ' de JongchrisJ	36 - 31	+5	70.9	1.13
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	35 - 38	-3	72.2	1.00
David 'frozen' Čerňanskýfrozen	29 - 31	-2	62.5	0.98

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	36 - 43	-7	85.5	0.98
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	34 - 39	-5	67.9	0.90
Jakob 'JUGi' HansenJUGi	27 - 38	-11	54.8	0.77
Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferSnappi	27 - 34	-7	54.1	0.77
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	29 - 44	-15	60.5	0.76

Robin 'ropz' Kool Age: 20 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 786 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.61 MOUZ #5 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenChris 'chrisJ' de JongÖzgür 'woxic' EkerDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýRobin 'ropz' Kool Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth Age: 24 Team: AstralisB Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1673 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.61 Astralis #2 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenNicolai 'device' ReedtzJakob 'JUGi' HansenEmil 'Magisk' Reif Finn 'karrigan' Andersen Age: 30 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 1673 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.69 Özgür 'woxic' Eker Age: 21 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 861 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.62 ENCE #21 Aleksi 'allu' JalliJani 'Aerial' JussilaMiikka 'suNny' KemppiJere 'sergej' SaloElias 'Jamppi' Olkkonen