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We continue to watch the action at IEM Cologne 2024. The group stage is heating up.
We're interested in Group B of The International, and more specifically in the CoL vs MOUZ match. The winner of the pair goes to the finals of the upper grid, which means a passage to the play-offs of the tournament.
Let's try to find out which of the CoL - MOUZ pair will be stronger and secure a slot in the IEM Cologne 2024 play-offs.
Let's go.
MOUZ uniforms
We open the MOUZ vs Complexity match with an analysis of MOUZ's form. Here the "mice" will play as favourites with odds to win at around 1.35.
One of MOUZ's main achievements last season was reaching the final of the Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023. There they battled ENCE, but were beaten 0-2.
Prior to Long Cologne IEM Cologne MOUZ made a splash at the Elisa Invitational Spring 2023. They failed to jump above the top 4 - they were beaten by Apeks on their way to the Grand Final.
Back in the season, they made it to the top 8 at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR A, and then to the event itself. It didn't end well, as the team finished Top-24 at Major e.
- MOUZ line-up: Brollan, siuhy, torzsi, Jimpphat, xertioN.
IEM Cologne 2023 will be a test for the new line-up of the "mice". After Elisa Spring, siuhy, who previously played for GamerLegion, and Jimpphat, who came from the youth team of 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 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 the next trophy in the "mice" 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 Sogpeg straight from the group stage, where they played against Falcons in the first match, where they won 2-1.
MOUZ Mapple
MOUZ's favourite map remains Inferno. The Mouses 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.
Complexity shape
We continue our analysis of CoL - MOUZ match with Complexity's form. Here they will play as an underdog with odds to win at 3.1.
Complexity played at IEM Masters Cologne 2023, where they finished early. CoL crashed out at the Long Island Play-In, losing to OG and finishing in the top 24.
- Complexity lineup: JT, floppy, Grim, hallzerk, EliGE.
We managed to partially cover the failure by winning the local Thunderpick World Championship 2023: North America Series #2. Nouns were defeated in the grand finals.
In the first match at the EPL S18 Complexity faced 9INE. The Poles put up a good fight, but couldn't pull out a win - the result was 2-1 in favour of CoL. In the match to come here Complexity surprised, perhaps, everyone. They ran over Cloud9 with an ice rink, closing the series 2-0 in their favour. They didn't manage to play long in the play-offs. CoL went straight to the second round of the main stage, but there they lost to Monte with a 1-2 score, finishing in the top-12.
Before the IEM Sydney 2023 Long Convergence, Monte fuelled themselves with a win on American Blast. They defeated Team Liquid 2-0 in the grand final of the qualifier, thus earning themselves a place at the autumn finals.
In the first round of IEM Sydney 2023 CoL played against Monte. Ukrainian club gave a fight, but the forces were enough only for 9 rounds. Next, the Americans met with the "samurai" from G2 Esports. They gave a fight, but it was not enough: as a result, G2 closed the series with a score of 2-0, giving the Americans a total of 14 rounds. After the defeat from G2 in the group stage, Complexity seemed to go off the chain: the club started to gain momentum and go head-to-head: first 2-1 against Cloud9, then a confident 2-0 against Monte, and then - play-offs. In the main stage of IEM Sydney 2023 CoL ran over BB Team (2-0) in the first round, and in the semi-finals they avenged their group loss to G2 Esports by knocking M0nesy and company out of the tournament with a 2-0 win.
After a top performance at IEM Sydney 2023, CoL travelled to play Thunderpick World Championship 2023. There the result was more modest - now top 9 with a 1-2 loss to MOUZ.
At BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2023 Complexity got into Group A, where they played two matches. In the first, they beat Astralis 2-0, followed by Ledge and Vitality (1-2) in the play-offs seeding match. In the first round of play-offs Complexity played against Natus Vincere. The match ended in favour of the Americans, although the game was close (2-1).
CoL finished their way through BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2023 in the second round of the play-offs, and fell out after a meeting with FaZe. As a result, CoL finished in the top 4 at BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2023 and lost their chance to play at the World Final.
Next up was Elisa Masters Espoo 2023 and ESL Challenger at DreamHack Atlanta 2023. At the former CoL finished in the top 8, and at the latter they finished in the top 6.
The 2024 season started with a victory at the American PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: North American Qualifier, but then - failure. It happened at the BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024 tournament, where the Americans took TOP-16. In addition, they played at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, where they finished in the top-11.
Before playing at IEM Dallas 2024 CoL visited ESL Pro League Season 19, where they reached TOP-4. At IEM Dallas 2024 Complexity made it to the Top 16, then made it to the Top 8 at YaLLa Compass 2024 and won ESL Challengers at DreamHack Summer 2024.
They also attended ESports World Cup 2024, where they failed to make it out of the Opening Stage. They got to IEM Cologne 2024 thanks to their ESL NA ranking.
IEM Cologne 2024 Long Co-played from the Play-In stage, where they did very well: they won ALLTERNATE aTTaX and Eternal Fire with a score of 2-0. Started the group stage with a 2-1 win over Vp.
Complexity's mappool
Complexity's mappool is pretty sad. The most successful map is Overpass with 5 wins in 9 matches.
They can also play Nuke, Ancient and Anubis. But they have 33% wins each, with a very poor record of 6 and 3 maps respectively.
CoL - MOUZ
In 2024 they played each other three times and all 3 matches were won by MOUZ.
Predicted result of MOUZ vs Complexity at IEM Cologne 2024
In my opinion, this match should go without any surprises. MOUZ have consistently beaten CoL throughout the year and this trend will continue. However, the Americans can definitely put up a fight.
Bottom line: MOUZ wins.