MOUZ ended their losing streak against FaZe, VP overwhelmed The MongolZ to advance to the Rio playoffs

Tough quarter-final matches await MOUZ and Virtus.pro on Friday, but for now, they can breathe a sigh of relief after securing their return to the big stage.

MOUZ got their first win against FaZe in CS2

MOUZ and Virtus.pro are the final two teams to win tickets to the playoffs of IEM Rio after defeating FaZe and The MongolZ respectively in the lower bracket finals of the group.

For MOUZ, the win over Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen's team was a huge relief as they finally achieved their first win against FaZe in Counter-Strike 2 after seven unsuccessful series.

This time, it seems like FaZe is about to show their magic again as usual. After suffering a painful loss on map Dust2, they performed well under pressure as they came back from the brink of elimination on the second map, Mirage, from 9-12 down.

Always using his psychological games, karrigan tried to put pressure on MOUZ's morale after winning in extra time, but Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek's team came back undeterred . A strong start on the T side gave them the cushion to withstand the counterattack from FaZe and ended the match in a stress-free manner on the CT side.

Throughout the series, MOUZ appeared unaffected by the pressure and remained positive from start to finish in a "change of mindset," as Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman shared after the match.

"We just changed our mindset, last time we didn't play as well as we should. We just played MOUZ's style of play, which is chaos, a lot of duels. Today we were very confident," he said.

A lot of work remains for MOUZ, as they will meet Vitality in the quarter-finals on Friday. This is a match that has changed the outcome many times this year, MOUZ won the ESL Pro League Season 19 final, while Vitality won the group stage match in their journey to the championship at IEM Cologne.