MOUZ pulled off one of the most memorable victories in Major history with a 2–1 win over Spirit in the opening quarterfinal of the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025. After dropping the first map in heartbreaking fashion, they rallied back on Dust2 and Nuke to reach the semifinals. We caught up with in-game leader Brollan after the match to talk about the team’s mental strength, shutting down donk, and the electric Austin crowd.

Brollan began by sharing his thoughts on reaching the semifinals after such a tense and exhausting battle.

Feeling good, I'm really happy. It was a really tough game, and especially after losing a really tight first map, it was a task to reset and go onto their map pick, but we did a good job and we were really prepared for it.

 

He explained how the team mentally bounced back after losing Mirage in double overtime.

I think we're very good at resetting, especially after tight games that we should have won. Spinx had a really good speech after the game and said that, "We probably should have won, but fuck it, we go to the next maps and not think about it."

 

We asked Brollan about the team’s gameplan on Dust2 and how they were able to shut down Spirit’s biggest threats.

I think we played really well as a team, especially on the CT side where we normally struggle a bit. We played really well, had a good plan coming into it, and we made it happen. – They have a tough game to play against us, and it showed on Dust especially on our CT side. They then won their CT pistol, but we trusted the process and our plan and we won.

 

Given MOUZ’s strong record against Spirit this year, Brollan was asked if there’s a stylistic edge to the matchup.

I don't really know, to be honest. They're really good, but we really feel confident when playing them, especially with donk. Obviously he gets a lot of frags against us as well, but sometimes he doesn't show up as much against us. – We just feel good playing them, and especially coming from the group stage to now, we've reset well and showed up today.

 

With torzsi constantly bringing the energy on stage, we asked Brollan what it means to have that kind of presence in the team.

We all have roles in the team, and his is to be the hype man in the team. I will say that I try to do it a bit more, but it's hard for me because I've never done it before. – It's a really important factor for us, we can't make these kind of comebacks without it. In the third maps when we don't have any fuel left, he's always trying to give more to us and to get us to have more energy, it's so important for us.

 

After such a long and emotional series, Brollan explained how the team plans to recover and prepare for their semifinal matchup.

No, I think that it's always nice to have a day off between match days, so it's good to have it. We can prepare for NAVI or Vitality, watch their game, so it's good to be able to have things to work on and figure out our next game. – I think that tonight we'll enjoy the moment, and then tomorrow we'll see how it all goes.

 

Finally, Brollan commented on the crowd in Austin — who started the match rooting for Spirit, but ended up cheering for MOUZ.

They're very loud, it made me a little bit sad that they were booing, but it's fine, it's not something I'm really thinking too much about. – Sometimes they'll boo us, sometimes they'll boo another team, but I know they're a really good crowd and it is what it is. Maybe we can turn them around with a win over Vitality or NAVI.

 

When asked if he feels the team has already won the crowd over after this victory, Brollan smiled.

We'll see, we'll see, but sometimes maybe we need more.

 

On June 21 at 20:00 CEST, MOUZ will play against the winner of the NAVI/Vitality in the semifinals of Blast.tv Austin Major 2025. You can follow the details of the tournament at the link.