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Professional Counter-Strike 2 is gaining momentum. After the Christmas break, both the well-known Katowice-type tournaments and new iterations of championships like PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 are returning.
The PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 tournament will take place between the 14th and 23rd of February and will bring together 16 teams from Valve's global rankings to compete for an impressive $1,200,000 prize pool. MOUZ and BIG are among the contenders for the top prize.
Let's try to find out which of the MOUZ - BIG pair will be the stronger and go through to the next round of the Swiss Stage with a score of 1-0, and who will have to play in a 0-1 basket.
Let's go.
MOUZ uniforms
Let's open the MOUZ vs BIG match with an analysis of MOUZ form. In this match they play as favourites with odds to win at around 1.4.
- 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 previously played 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 visited 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 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 at IEM Katowice 2025, failing to make it out of the group stage and finishing in 16th place.
MOUZ Mapple
MOUZ's favourite map remains Inferno. The Mice have played it three times in the last 3 months 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.
BIG shape
We continue our analysis of the match BIG vs MOUZ with an analysis of BIG's form. In this match they play as an outsider with odds to win at around 2.5.
In the 2023 season BIG participated in a lot of championships, but there were not many decent results. They started top-9 at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2023, and went on to top-16 at IEM Extreme Masters Katowice 2023.
There was also an appearance at ESL Pro League Season 17 with a top-20 there. The failures partially managed to overlap the top-4 at Elis Invitational Winter 2023, where the team reached the top-4.
In the middle of the year, the Germans failed to qualify for BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023, finishing top-11 at RMR Europe and then top-3 at qualification. In the second half of the year they started playing CCT Series championships, where it is worth noting CCT Online Finals #1, with TOP-4, CCT West Europe Series $4 with TOP-2.
Back to the S-Tier tournaments with BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023 with Top-9, and then Top-24 at IEM Cologne 2023.
- BIG lineup: tabseN, Krimbo, syrsoN, JDC, rigoN.
Prior to the ESL Pro League Season 18 Long Round, the team played at Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1 with a top-2 finish. There was also a top-8 at CCT East Europe Series #7 and a win at CCT Europe Series #7.
At ESL Pro League Season 18 they debuted with a match against Monte. The Ukrainian club fought honourably, but in the end they were defeated by Ledgeil with the score 1-2, putting BIG in the semi-finals of Group B at ESL Pro League Season 18.
In the previous match, BIG made perhaps the biggest sensation of the tournament. The Germans defeated Heroic, sending them to the bottom of the group.
Next, BIG played another big European club - ENCE. The Finns failed to win (1-2), but BIG made it to the play-offs, straight into the second round. That's where their ESL Pro League Season 18 journey came to an end.
BIG Ledge and Eternal Fire in the second round of play-offs with the score 0-2. Thus, the Germans took the EPL S18 top-12.
In the match before that, BIG played against 9INE. The Germans defeated their visions quite easily, closing the match with a score of 2-0.
Afterwards, BIG outplayed ENCE and advanced to the finals of BLAST Premier: Fall European Showdown 2023. However, BIG were not enough for the final as C9 won 2-0.
Prior to the Roobet Cup 2023, BIG played two CCT tournaments. It was CCT North Europe Series #8 and CCT East Europe Series #3. They finished in the top 16 at the latter, but won the North European tournament, beating Spirit 2-0 in the grand final.
The Roobet Cup 2023 ended quite well for BIG. The team finished in the top 8, and repeated that result at Thunderpick World Championship 2023. They also played at CCT Online FInals #4, where they finished in the top 3.
In the first match at CCT Online Finals #5 BIG played Zero Tenacity. "The Germans proved to be stronger, easily defeating ZT. In the next game BIG met Guild Eagles and were stronger, and very confidently - 2-0. Next, BIG faced 9 Pandas and once again the Germans were no match for them. A confident 2-0 against the Pandas led them to the final of the upper grid. There they slammed Aurora without much difficulty and later repeated it in the grand final of the tournament.
BIG started the tournament with a rather lacklustre loss against Vp, but followed it up with a colourful and hard fought win against Heroic. Even more colourful was the victory over Cloud9 in the lower finals match, where BIG shut out the "titular" Americans 2-0. However, it was not possible to come out of their group victorious and Vp repeated their debut success. Next, BIG fought Astralis in the match for the BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2024, but they failed there as well.
They played at IEM Katowice 2024, where they finished only in the top 20. Before playing at ESL Pro League Season 19, the team visited BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown, where they finished top-8, Skyesports Masters 2023, where they reached top-4 and Thunderpick World Championship 2024 with top-4.
At the ESL Pro League Season 19 BIG got into the group D and qualified there by passing the "middle grid". However, they didn't manage to play long at ESL Pro League Season 19: TOP-16. Before the BLAST Premier, the team played a number of "smaller" tournaments, including IEM Dallas 2024 (TOP-8), YaLLa Compass 2024 (TOP-12) and CCT Season 2 European Series #5 (TOP-8). They also attended BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024, where they finished in the Top 9-12.
BIG played at IEM Cologne 2024, where they lost in a blowout. There they took TOP-17-20, which is not an acceptable result if you want it to be. Later they visited BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2024, where they took TOP-8.
ESL Pro League S20 started with a loss to Imperial (1-2). Later they defeated Rooster (2-0) and Fnatic (2-0). However, they failed to advance far, as they lost to The MongolZ and finished in the top 16.
They also played at YaLLa Compass Summer 2024, where they finished top-8, as well as at CCT Season 2 European Series #12 and finished top-16. Partially breaking the losing streak was ESL Challenger at DreamHack Atlanta 2024, where BIG reached the TOP-2.
At Thunderpick World Championship 2024 BIG became the winners of Group D. However, this didn't help them to achieve good results and at the end of Thunderpick World Championship 2024 the team finished in the top 8. Next up was an appearance at the much more localised YaLLa Compass Fall 2024 and a similar top-8 finish.
PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B, BIG started with a win over Sashi Esports. Next up were wins over Heroic and BIG, allowing the German club to enter the Major at 3-0.
At the Opening Stage of Shanghai Major 2024 Long Sogpeg started with a win over Passion Ua. Then they defeated FlyQuest, defeated Vp, but then defeated FURIA and got to 2-2. We managed to reach the Elimination Stage thanks to the victory over Complexity.
The Elimination Stage itself did not go well for BIG: defeats to Heroic and G2 led them to the basket 0-2. The final of PW Shanghai Major 2024 was also inglorious for BIG: 1-2 against paiN and elimination to the Top 16.
The start of the 2025 season began with a string of disappointing performances. BIG failed BLAST Bounty Spring 2025: Closed Qualifier, finishing in the top 16, IEM Katowice 2025, finishing in 13-16th place and Res Showdown Spring 2025, only reaching the top 8.
BIG Mapple
BIG has 3 of the best maps in their arsenal at once. They are Overpass, Vertigo and Anubis with 5 matches and 3 wins on each.
The most played map is Ancient. BIG have played 14 matches there and have a 57% win rate.
The most unlucky map is Inferno with 2 wins and 2 losses. The worst map is Mirage (9 matches, 33% win rate).
History of head-to-head meetings BIG - MOUZ
The last time the teams crossed each other was back in 2023.
Predicted result of MOUZ vs BIG at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025
Despite MOUZ's nominal advantage and their more favourable position on the international stage, the Mice look confused at the 2025 Long Season. BIG's situation is no better. As far as I'm concerned, there should be a full-fledged Bo3.
Bottom line: total +2.5.
