North, mousesports round out Europe Minor playoffs

North and MOUZ have secured the final Europe Minor playoffs spots following decider series victories over BIG and NoChance.

The first decider series, between North and BIG, kicked off on Overpass, where Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup opened up the Danes' T side with an impressive Glock triple kill. Momentum was lost in the ensuing round, as a successful pistol buy on part of BIG allowed not only a round conversion but a further two afterward. Back-to-back double kills for Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye ensured North's footing, and, despite a single-round upset, the Danes were able to assume the lead once more, this time with a 7-4 margin. Outstanding showings from Tizian "⁠tiziaN⁠" Feldbusch and Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz ensured the majority of remaining rounds for BIG, as they were able to close a widening gap with a 7-8 CT conclusion.

A second pistol round victory for North saw a much more convincing follow-up on the Danes' CT side, as Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså and his men lept to a 12-7 lead off the back of the early momentum, largely attributed to Kjaerbye's USP-s triple kill in the opening round. Retaliation from BIG followed immediately after the string of CT successes, once more squishing North's round lead to just one at 11-12. In the end, BIG were unable to successfully catch up with the Danish defence, as a triple kill from Nicklas "⁠gade⁠" Gade placed the squad on map point, and the team closed out map shortly after with a 16-12 scoreline.

North commenced Inferno with a third pistol round victory, once more witnessing a highlight from aizy who accounted for three frags in the first round. Off the back of early success, the Danes proceeded to effectively fend off the Ts, establishing a solid foundation of seven consecutive rounds, two of which saw gade pick up quad kills. BIG regained their confidence after their first digit on the map was secured via an astonishing 1v4 clutch from Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik, and went on to triple their standing in the following two rounds. The last-minute second wind made for a difficult, albeit salvageable 5-10 conclusion to BIG's T half.

A well-paced B hit from North's offense meant a fourth consecutive pistol victory for the Danes. This spelled an exacerbating deficit for BIG, who were persistently unable to find their mojo, even with rifles in hand, as a pivotal 3v2 was conceded, allowing the Danes subsequent advancement to a 14-5 scoreline. After map point was secured by the Ts, Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş prevented North from closing out the series with a 1v2 clutch, but his heroic showing did not prevent the inevitable, as the Danes closed out the series with a 16-7 victory on Inferno.

Group A's decider commenced with a demonstration of immaculate aim from MOUZ' David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský, who dispatched four members of NoChance in the first pistol round. Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen shut down the opposition in the following anti-eco, scoring a quad kill of his own. From this point onward, NoChance visibly struggled to breach MOUZ's fortifications, consistently falling short despite a varied approach to site hits. It was only in the final three rounds that the squad was able to produce two victories, and even so off the back of individual multi-frags from four members of the offense.

A second pistol round for MOUZ edged the team closer to their first map victory, witnessing two double kills for frozen and Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker in the process. A force buy from NoChance gave spots of hope, as Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk made use of his Deagle with two frags, but the plan fell through, marking a convincing 16-2 closure for MOUZ.

Vertigo was next on the agenda, and while MOUZ managed to secure the initial pistol round on the defence, momentum was snatched by Kevin "⁠kRYSTAL⁠" Amend and company in an immediate fashion. Two consecutive quad kills from Jesse "⁠zehN⁠" Linjala set the pace for the initial half, as CTs were seldom able to fend off the aggressors. A total of five rounds were accrued by MOUZ come the conclusion of the initial half, two of which ensured by woxic's multi-frags.

zehN kept his team's pace going by ensuring the second pistol round with three USP-s kills. The following four rounds all saw the CTs dominate the offense, with zehN placing the team on map point after posting an AWP triple kill and an ace in consecutive fashion. After securing just a single round on the T side, MOUZ conceding Vertigo with a 6-16 scoreline.

The concluding map of the day, Nuke, saw a dynamic opposite to the lop-sided performances from the previous two maps. MOUZ closed out the first two rounds of the half on the offense, but the squad lost some steam after a 3-1 lead was secured. A triple kill from Thomas "⁠Thomas⁠" Utting leveled the scoreline at three apiece, with NoChance going on to assume the lead. The offense struggled to regain their momentum, but woxic's individual showings ensured an extra two rounds over the remainder of the half, concluding MOUZ' T side at 6-9.

Much like their opponents, NoChance managed to close out their T side pistol, but were unable to keep the ball rolling, bar a pistol-buy upset in round 18. This gave MOUZ a pivotal opening, off the back of which they closed out a total of nine rounds, securing map and series point as a result. A force buy in round 27 fell through for NoChance, concluding Nuke 16-11 in favour of MOUZ.

With the group stage now over, the schedule for the playoffs looks as follows:

Friday, July 19

16:00 - CR4ZY vs. North | BO3
19:00 - fnatic vs. MOUZ | BO3

Saturday, July 20

16:00 - Elimination match | BO3
19:00 - Winners' bracket final | BO3

Sunday, July 21

18:00 - Lower bracket final | BO3