mousesports came from behind to beat Vega Squadron 2-1 and secure a spot at ROG Masters 2017.

The first semi-final of the day began on Mirage, Vega Squadron's map choice, where the Russian team came out strongly on the Terrorist side, winning six of the first eight rounds. MOUZ then tightened up their defense and overcame the deficit by stringings five rounds together, but Dmitriy "⁠jR⁠" Chervak's team picked up the final two rounds of the half to secure a narrow 8-7 lead.

MOUZ entered the second half determined to turn things around, and they retook the lead after taking the pistol round and the following anti-ecos. However, once the game reached the gun rounds it was all about Vega Squadron's impenetrable defence. Powered by Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov and Nikolay "⁠mir⁠" Bityukov, the Russian team never let MOUZ string any rounds together and closed out the map, 16-13. 

The second map of the series was Nuke, where Vega Squadron got out to a quick 3-0 lead on the Terrorist side. But after buying up, MOUZ took control of proceedings, dropping just two rounds until the end of the half as they stormed to a 10-5 lead.

mousesports qualify for ROG Masters

The second half followed the same pattern as the first as the Russian team won the pistol round and the subsequent anti-ecos, only to lose control of the game in gun rounds. MOUZ shut down any chances of the CTs building up their economy or stringing rounds together, locking down the map at 16-10.

Vega Squadron entered the final map, Inferno, with all guns blazing, cruising to a 6-1 lead on the CT side. MOUZ' offence then finally came to life, with the half ending in a surprisingly close 8-7 scoreline.

The Russian team further added to their lead by taking the pistol round and the next anti-eco, but then a 1v3 clutch from Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi put MOUZ back in the game. The European mixture kept this momentum for the remainder of the half, with their individual talent making the difference in key rounds. With a stunning wallbang from Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný in a 1v1 and a quad-kill from Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool, MOUZ reached match point, and they denied Vega Squadron the chance to take the game to overtime with three more kills from the Estonian talent in the pit.

ROG MASTERS 2017 EMEA FinalsBest of 3 Vega SquadronMatchpage 1 2 15th October 2017 MOUZ 16Mirage 13 10Nuke 16 13Inferno 16

Vega Squadron	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	58 - 55	+3	80.8	1.11
Nikolay 'mir' Bityukovmir	60 - 53	+7	71.3	1.04
Sergey 'keshandr' Nikishinkeshandr	57 - 60	-3	71.6	1.00
Dmitriy 'jR' ChervakjR	46 - 61	-15	61.6	0.89
Pavel 'hutji' Lashkovhutji	47 - 59	-12	62.0	0.86

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Miikka 'suNny' KemppisuNny	62 - 57	+5	87.6	1.19
Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastnýoskar	62 - 55	+7	77.1	1.12
Robin 'ropz' Koolropz	62 - 54	+8	72.3	1.06
Martin 'STYKO' StykSTYKO	53 - 50	+3	72.3	1.02
Chris 'chrisJ' de JongchrisJ	49 - 54	-5	66.5	0.98

With MOUZ through to ROG Masters 2017, the team list for the $250,000 event, which will take place from December 7-10 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, currently looks as follows:

TYLOO	MOUZ
EMEA	Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific	Americas

Dmitriy 'jR' Chervak Age: 23 Team: Vega Squadron Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 294 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 MOUZ #11 Tomáš 'oskar' ŠťastnýChris 'chrisJ' de JongMiikka 'suNny' KemppiMartin 'STYKO' StykRobin 'ropz' Kool Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov Age: 20 Team: Vega Squadron Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 248 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.69 Nikolay 'mir' Bityukov Age: 21 Team: Vega Squadron Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 282 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.67 TYLOO #93 Vladyslav 'bondik' NechyporchukKe 'captainMo' LiuHui 'DD' WuHansel 'BnTeT' FerdinandHaoWen 'somebody' Xu Vega Squadron #29 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovDmitriy 'jR' ChervakSergey 'keshandr' NikishinNikolay 'mir' BityukovPavel 'hutji' Lashkov Miikka 'suNny' Kemppi Age: 23 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 665 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.69 Robin 'ropz' Kool Age: 17 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 160 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.66 Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastný Age: 26 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 575 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.66