We said we didn’t think that MOUZ vs. M80 would be an easy one for everyone’s least favourite aura-less team, and as usual, we were right.

It looked like it may have been as they comfortably picked up an 8-4 CT half on Ancient, but an ace for Lake on the T side pistol round gave M80 some hope. Hope that was quickly dashed as MOUZ broke M80’s economy to secure a 13-10 win.

At this point, the MOUZ 2-0 seemed secure. Heading to their map pick of Mirage, a map they’re incredibly strong on, the lowly NA team surely wouldn’t be handle them. But it turns out the stage jitters still haunt MOUZ on occasion.

M80 fried on their CT side, MOUZ looked truly terrible as they gave away a 10-2 lead. Spinx was 0-10 at one point, and MOUZ only managed to secure an opening kill in the final round of the half. slaxz-, HexT, Swisher, and Lake were having a whale of a time.

It was brutal.

MOUZ attempted to fight back in the second half, Spinx picked up plenty of eco kills to hide the fact he’d had a shocker, but the gap was already too large, and M80 levelled the series at 13-9.

With two close maps to start the series, we were hoping for a banger third map. And then we saw it was on Inferno.

A map that excites us about as often as we excite our girlfriends, MOUZ dominated on their CT side, taking a 10-2 lead into the break.

Spinx was back on form, he went 16-4 on the CT side and had 14.03% round swing. The boffins over at Half-Life Telly tell us that’s pretty good.

Flat on their backs and still having fun - you can put your own joke here - M80 took the small remainder of their defeat well. There were smiles all around as they picked up their final round of their stage debut, enjoying every moment of the crowds’ cheers.

Good for them.

Just a shame that they’ll now have to go back to NA and probably become bad again.

How much is a can of Monster?

Illustration by NovaH. Source: Vitality.

Vitality’s captain talks 1v1s with gorillas, awful karaoke skills, and having dreams of becoming a pilot.

What's your first memory of Counter-Strike?

My first memory of Counter-Strike and when I discovered it was in a cyber cafe back in France in February of 2007.

When did the realisation you could become a pro kick in?

I don't know because back then in CS:Source it was professional without being professional because there wasn't that much money. I think there was a moment where I started to play good and a professional team in a professional league asked me to join them. That was the start for me.

What's the weirdest reaction you've gotten from a stranger when you tell them what you do for a living?

I think they are pretty similar overall. Back then, people didn't understand what I was doing. They understood gamers to be big nerds who just ate chips in front of their computers and drank soda.

Do you get any different reactions nowadays that esports has grown a lot?

Well yeah, nowadays it's a bit different. People understand more and see more of all the arenas, but in the beginning, there wasn't any of that money to back it up with.

What's your favourite memory of Counter-Strike?

I would pick two. The first memory is winning big tournaments and Majors – I think the Paris Major and Austin Major are some of my greatest memories ever. Then, for the second one, I would say it's playing free-for-all servers when I first started playing. I would leave school and go directly to the computer because Counter-Strike gave me so much dopamine. I enjoyed it so much so that's a really great memory as well.

How much is a can of Monster?

470 milliliters?

What if you had to guess the price?

3 euros.

A bit over, it's 1.70 euros… If you had to pick any one of your teammates to sing for the team in an attempt to boost morale, who would it be?

That's a really good question. I have no idea. I don't think we have any good singers in the team anywhere. I would go for mezii, he's British so it's easiest for him to speak English and sing in English.

You don't think you'd be good at karaoke?

I'm not good at karaoke. It's not one of my strengths. I like to sing but I am not good at it.

What's the deadliest animal you could beat in a fight?

You know that trend about a hundred men versus one gorilla? I would go 1v1.

If you had to tag one of your teammates in to help you against the gorilla who would it be?

I would go for flameZ probably because I think he is the craziest. We'll go crazy and try to beat the gorilla as much as we can.

If you were a professional footballer what position would you play?

I think I would play midfielder. It's like being an IGL in the sense that you have to organise the game with a pass and an assist to drive the game. I used to play football and I loved playing midfielder.

Would you be a defensive midfielder or an attacking midfielder?

I think I would be more attacking like the old-school number ten position that Zidane played. That's what every guy from France would love to do.

If you had to pick a CS map to live on, what would it be?

I would need to find a map where it's sunny. Maybe Mirage or Dust II since they're sunny maps but not Ancient because it's always raining. Italy looks great actually and so does Inferno, it's definitely one of those. Pasta in Italy would be great.

What would you be if you weren't a professional Counter-Strike player?

One of the first dreams I had was to be a pilot so I could've done that, other than that, maybe an engineer or something like that.