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We continue to follow the action at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025. One of the biggest tournaments of winter 2025 is coming to its climax with 4 teams left in the race for the championship.
Astralis and MOUZ are among the contenders for the win and $400,000. The teams will play each other in the PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 semi-finals to find out the first participant of the grand final.
We are trying to figure out which of the pair Astralis - MOUZ will be stronger and make it to the grand finals of the tournament.
Let's go.
MOUZ Form
We open the MOUZ vs Astralis match with an analysis of MOUZ's form. In this match they play as favourites with odds to win at around 1.6.
- MOUZ line-up: torzsi, xertioN, Jimpphat, Brollan, Spinx....
IEM Cologne 2023 is a test of the new line-up of the "mice". After Elisa Spring, siuhy, who used to play for GamerLegion, and Jimpphat, a youth player from MOUZ Nxt, joined the squad.
In the debut match, the revamped MOUZ roster played against The MongolZ. An easy outing on paper ended in a nervous Bo1 on the dopes, followed by a 22-19 win for MOUZ on Nuke.
Already in the match to qualify for the group stage MOUZ were much more confident. They beat NiP 2-0 (16-12 Nuke and 16-7 Inferno) without any problems.
The first match of the group stage was not a big challenge for MOUZ either. NaVi lost at Ancient with a score of 16-9 and Overpass with a score of 16-12.
After beating NaVi, MOUZ failed to gain a foothold and they lost the next two series. As a result, the "mice" at IEM Cologne 2023 took the top 12.
Before ESL Pro League Season 18, the team played at the local championship Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1. They managed to win, defeating BIG 2-0 in the grand finals.
In their debut match at ESL Pro League Season 18, MOUZ faced mibr. Being the favourites, MOUZ failed to defeat the Brazilians and unexpectedly ended up in the bottom of Group B.
The group stage was a mixed bag for MOUZ, but still more successful than not. An unexpected defeat in the top set cheered MOUZ up and they effortlessly went over the heads of their opponents, Heroic among them, at the bottom of the group stage table. Having not lost a single game in the lower grid, MOUZ made it here.
In the first round of the ESL Pro League Season 18 play-offs, MOUZ seemed to be off the chain. The Brazilians from FURIA were literally stomped, and the "mice" celebrated an easy 2-0 victory, giving their opponents a total of 9 rounds per game.
In the match before that, MOUZ met another grandee of the European scene - FaZe Clan. "Mice" on a spree swept through the match and closed the series with a score of 2-0.
In the match for the exit here MOUZ met G2 Esports. They became another trophy in the Mouse's piggy bank at ESL Pro League S18.
MOUZ went on to defeat ENCE (2-1) and NaVi in the EPL S18 Grand Final with a resounding 3-0 score. Prior to the Thunderpick World Championship 2023, MOUZ played at IEM Sydney 2023, where they again faced FaZe. This time FaZe retaliated for the upset defeat and knocked MOUZ out at the Top 4 stage.
Thunderpick World Championship 2023 MOUZ ended prematurely. They lost in the first round of play-offs to FaZe, who later became the tournament champions.
Later was the CS Asia Championship 2023, where MOUZ performed well. They reached the grand finals, but there they lost to FaZe Clan with a score of 0-2.
At Elisa Masters Espoo 2023 MOUZ started their performance with a rather unexpected defeat. They defeated Apeks 16-19 in the first round of the group stage. Next up was a match with CoL for life at the event, which the "mice" won with a one-card deficit. However, they couldn't stay in the championship race for long: MOUZ crashed out at the Top 6 stage.
After that, it was BLAST Premier: World Final 2023, where the "mice" took TOP-4. This was the last tournament of the 2023 season. They started the 2024 season with a top-7 finish at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European Qualifier B. Next was IEM Katowice 2024, where the "mice" took TOP-4.
At PGL Major CS2 Copenhagen 2024, they made their way from TOP-1-2 to European RMR B. At the tournament itself, Mice started off with a win over Ecstatic and then beat Eternal Fire, which gave them a 2-0 lead.
Next up was IEM China 2024, where MOUZ continued to "dial it up". This time the team managed to reach the grand final, but FaZe were stronger.
MOUZ were very confident in the play-offs of ESL Pro League Season 19. They also confidently swept through the play-offs championship and won the tournament by shutting out Vitality 3-0 in the grand finals.
MOUZ attended IEM Dallas 2024 where they finished in the top 12, which is a very difficult result for a team of MOUZ's calibre.
Esports World Cup 2024 MOUZ started with a match against Sashi Esports, where they won 2-1, which again is not very good. After making it to the play-offs they defeated FURIA Esports with a score of 2-1. The Esports World Cup 2024 MOUZ finished in the top 4, Ledgeiv beating NaVi in the grand final.
IEM Cologne 2024 Long Competed straight from the group stage, where in the first match they played against Falcons and won 2-1. And in the play-offs match they beat CoL even more confidently with a 2-0 win. In the first round of play-offs "mice" very confidently beat G2 Esports with a score of 2-0, but then lost dry to NaVi, taking the final TOP-4.
ESL Pro League Season 20 started with a shaky 2-1 win over Rooster. MOUZ's problems at EPL S20 came to light in the following matches, when MOUZ lost to Imperial and CoL 0-2 in succession. Fnatic won the last chance net and therefore lost to CoL 0-2, leaving ESL Pro League Season 20 without making it to the play-offs.
At IEM Rio 2024 MOUZ played in Group A. MOUZ made it to the play-offs from the bottom of the group after beating CoL and FaZe Clan. In the play-offs they beat Vitality (2-1) and FURIA (2-0). They failed to get the victory: in the grand final they lost to NaVi with the score 1-3. Later MOUZ played at BLAST Premier: World Final 2024, where they were ranked Top 6.
They got to the Elimination Stage of PW Shanghai Major 2024 thanks to their successful play at European RMR A, where they took TOP-1-2. Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 started with a victory over paiN Gaming. Later they lost to MongolZ and FaZe, but defeated 3DMax. In the match for life at the tournament, they outplayed MIBR. MOUZ opened the playoffs of Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 with a match against MongolZ, where they won 2-0, though not without problems. In the next match MOUZ played against Spirit, where Ledge won 0-2.
The start of the 2025 season was very hard for the "mice". The team played a very mediocre BLAST Bounty Spring 2025: Closed Qualifier, finishing in the top 32 and similarly poorly in IEM Katowice 2025, failing to make it out of the group stage and finishing in 16th place.
The group stage of PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 was a bitterly contested: MOUZ Long Sogpeg started with victories over BIG and 3DMax, but then lost to Falcons and FaZe. In the decisive match they defeated Vp, which gave them a passage to the main stage. The play-offs started with a match against paiN Gaming, where MOUZ won 2-0.
MOUZ Mapple
Inferno remains MOUZ's favourite map. Over the last 3 months, the "mice" have played it three times and won all their games there. Nuke is also doing well, with MOUZ winning 3 out of 4 Nuke games played.
Among the good options are Vertigo and Ancient, where MOUZ have 2 wins in 3 games each.
The most undesirable map is Mirage. MOUZ have played it 6 times, but have only won once.
Astralis Form
We continue the analysis of Astralis - MOUZ match with the analysis of Astralis form. In this match they play as an outsider with odds to win at around 2.5.
The Danish club had a difficult period. They tried their best to "return" to the TIR-1 scene, but they constantly fell short: Astralis finished top-20 at ESL Pro League Season 17 and top-14 at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B.
At lesser tournaments, however, Astralis fared well. The world's most titled team finished Top 2 at Brazy Party, won CCT South Europe Series #4 and finished Top 4 at Pinnacle Cup V.
Returning to the S-Tier Championships, Astralis took Top 6 at IEM Masters Dallas 2023 and Top 8 at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups.
Prior to the BB Dacha, Astralis attended a number of other events. Those were ESL Pro League Season 18 and Roobet Cup 2023, where the once stellar Danes finished in the Top 16.
Just before the Long Convergence, BB Dacha Astralis finished in the Top 4 at CS Asia Championship 2023 and Top 8 at BLAST Premier: Fall Finals. The swing in performance is primarily due to roster manipulation.
- Astralis roster: Staehr, stavn, jabbi, CadiaN, Device.
Before IEM Katowice 2024 they played at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024. At the end of the championship the Danes made it to the top 6 and it was enough to get to the BLAST Premier: Spring Final. The IEM Katowice 2024 Astralis failed in the dust and dust: took the top 32, not passing the Play-In stage.
Then there were two attempts to get to the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, but both failed: TOP-11 at European RMR B and TOP-6 at European RMR Decider put an end to Astralis' participation in the home Major.
In the first match of IEM China 2024 Astralis played against steel helmet, as Monte could not make it to China. And if Monte had played there, the score would have been obviously not so crushing as 13-2 in favour of Astralis. Although, judging by the match with FaZe, where Astralis were a head and shoulders above FaZe, shutting down the top 1 team in the world with a score of 2-0, maybe Astralis are very energised for IEM China 2024. In the play-offs of the championship Astralis met FaZe Clan again, but this time they were weaker and lost with the score 1-2 and left the tournament.
Astralis visited ESL Pro League Season 19, where they reached the TOP-4, where in the match for the grand final Ledge and Vitality. Later, they had an identical result at CCT Season 1 Global Finals and YaLLa Compass 2024.
At BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2024, Astralis played in Group A, where they finished in the top 3. They made it to the play-offs Ledge or Vp and left the tournament at the Top 6 stage. Later Astralis played at IEM Cologne 2024, where they finished top-12.
At the ESL Pro League Season 20 Long Season they were defeated by Fnatic (1-2). Next was a match against CoL (0-2). They finished ESL Pro League Season 20 as ignominiously as they started - losing to CoL and leaving the tournament at the TOP-28 stage.
After such poor results Astralis continued their attempts to return to the TIR-1 stage. For this purpose, they played at BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024, where they took TOP-8 and at Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024, where they were TOP-12. As you can see, the attempts were not successful.
Astralis did well in the group stage of BLAST Premier: World Final 2024, leaving behind MOUZ, FaZe and NaVi. After winning Group A, Astralis directly qualified for the semi-finals. However, that was the end of their journey through BLAST Premier: World Final 2024, and Spirit advanced to the grand finals.
Astralis Long Sogpeg at PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B with a loss against 9 Pandas, followed by Ledgeili and Sashi Esports. They managed to come together only by the third match against B8. However, the music didn't last long for Astralis and they failed to make it to Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024.
At BLAST Bounty Season 1 Astralis Long started with a victory over Wildcard, but then - NaVi and lost. At the end of BLAST Bounty Season 1, Astralis finished in the top 9-16.
Astralis also attended IEM Katowice 2025, where they made it to the group stage, but did not manage to take high places there. Top-12 is not a good result.
In the PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 Astralis went through the group stage with a score of 3-2. Not the most confident performance in the group stage did not prevent the Danes from outplaying The MongolZ and that is worth a lot.
Astralis Mapple
Astralis have two 100 per cent maps. They are Nuke with 9 wins in 14 matches, and Anubis with 5 matches and 4 wins.
They also play Ancient (66% wins in 3 matches). Still playing Mirage (9 matches, 4 wins). Vertigo with 2 wins and 3 losses and Overpass (2 wins in 7 matches).
Not playing Inferno.
History of head-to-head meetings MOUZ - Astralis
The last time the teams played each other was in season 2024, where Astralis won.
Predicted result of Astralis vs MOUZ at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025
In this match I expect a beautiful Counter-Strike 2. Both teams played very sluggishly in the group stage, but showed a completely different game in the play-offs. However, I will still believe in the victory of MOUZ, who look a bit more stable than Astralis lately.
Bottom line: MOUZ win.
