It has been yet another successful trip to Brazil for Counter-Strike, with the conclusion of IEM Rio 2024. It’s been an exciting tournament filled with surprise results, underdog wins, and, ultimately, a likely winner in NAVI. Let’s take a look at how they beat MOUZ in a tough 3:1 series!
NAVI win fourth trophy of 2024
Credit: ESLCS on X.
IEM Rio 2024 marks NAVI‘s fourth trophy of the year. No matter what happens from this point onward, they are undoubtedly the best CS2 team in the world, having had the best year of any team. How many times have we spoke of NAVI’s unbelievable ability to come back from even the greatest of deficits?
They had to do it again here. After winning the first two maps, NAVI lost the third, bringing the series to 2:1. On the fourth map of Ancient, they found themselves 10:2 down at half-time, just three rounds away from tying the series from such a dominant position. MOUZ’s comeback was well and truly on, in theory.
That didn’t deter NAVI, who managed to come back all the way to 13:11 to see out the series on the fourth map. It was a staggering comeback, led by some huge individual moments from b1t and iM in particular. For a team with “no stars,” they seem to have a lot of players stepping up when needed.
Are MOUZ just not good enough?
Credit: Enos Ku | © ESL
There has always been an air of inevitability about this MOUZ roster. One day, something would click, and they’d be unstoppable. This is the kind of loss that makes you wonder if that day may never come. They’re obviously competitors, or else they wouldn’t be in the Grand Final of IEM Rio 2024. But here, with more silverware on the line, MOUZ folded. AGAIN.
MOUZ have looked better generally throughout this event, but that won’t make this loss feel any better. Losing the fourth map from being 10:2 up at the half will be unacceptable by their own personal standards. This was a series that should have gone to a fifth map, no excuses. We know all these players will achieve great things in CS2, but it could soon be time to start a dialogue about the fact that those achievements may not come together. There’s a real feeling of loss baggage with this roster at this point.
