MOUZ continue upset rampage at EPL with ENCE scalp

Three teams from the top six have fallen at the hands of MOUZ in Malta, and they look to take the scalp of the world's No. 7 in the title decider.

MOUZ have joined Natus Vincere in the grand final of ESL Pro League Season 18 after taking down ENCE in a 2-1 series (Mirage 16-13, Vertigo 11-16, Nuke 16-8).

The team around Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek has continued an upset rampage through the tournament in Malta, adding the world's No. 2 team to their previous playoffs scalps of G2 (#3) and FaZe (#6), ending Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer's team's streak of four grand finals appearances in a row in the process.

MOUZ began the series with a closely-fought Mirage in which they had to stave off ENCE's comeback attempt from 5-12 down spearheaded by Guy "⁠NertZ⁠" Iluz. In the end, though, a labored 1v2 clutch from David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský helped them close out the map.

ENCE responded on Vertigo, where a lacking CT side cost MOUZ a chance to end it in two, but they made up for that in spades with a dominant showing on Nuke. MOUZ were more than ready for their opponents' signature fast-paced style as they decimated ENCE on the defense with an 11-4 half, and had no trouble closing it out with a pistol round to boot.

The title decider between MOUZ and Natus Vincere is set to take place on Sunday at 16:00 and will be played in a best-of-five series, which will come as a big test of the map pool to two teams who made substantial lineup changes in the summer off-season.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
01/10/2023	Natus Vincere 16:00 MOUZ	Match

MOUZ will likely go into the final as slight favorites given that their wins in the last three rounds of the playoffs bracket came up against three of the world's top-six teams. NAVI, in comparison, have yet to lose a map at the event but faced lower-ranked opposition in Eternal Fire and Monte in the bracket stage.