mousesports have booked their spot in the IEM Sydney 2018 semi-finals after defeating Renegades 2-1 (16-7 on Mirage, 23-25 on Inferno, 19-15 on Train).

The second quarter-final kicked off on mousesports' map pick, Mirage, with Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong's men securing a quick 2-0 lead after retaking the B bombsite in their CT pistol. mousesports handled Renegades's third-round buy really well and remained in control of the map, constantly denying their opponents' executions with a very tight defence.

In the eighth round, as Renegades managed to pick up their first round after Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward had found two rare entry-kills, and they followed that up thanks to a 1v2 post-plant clutch from the 25-year-old. The Australian side appeared to have found the formula for success, but mousesports remained calm and collected, and won three more rounds before the break to secure a 10-5 lead.

In the second half, in a 1v4 post-plant situation, Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný pulled off a miraculous kill onto the defuser to deny Renegades from winning the second pistol. After that, mousesports rallied to get themselves to a 14-5 lead, and then went on to close out the map after losing just two more rounds.

oskar led the way for mousesports with 82 kills

Starting out as Terrorists on their map pick, Inferno, Renegades saw Karlo "⁠USTILO⁠" Pivac find two clean entries in the apartments before securing the first pistol round. Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis's men then followed that up with the anti-ecos, but, just like on Mirage, mousesports cruised to a comfortable lead, 9-3.

Renegades responded to their opponents' nine-round winning streak with a successful B play, but mousesports refused to take their foot off the gas, stringing together the final two rounds of the half to switch sides with an 11-4 lead.

Renegades came from the break eager to turn things around and, now playing as CTs, won six rounds in a row to reduce the deficit to a sole round. On a shoddy pistol-buy, however, mousesports got back to winning ways following a successful A execution, which they then followed up with their 13th round.

Renegades responded with a strong defence in B, but the following round saw Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool and oskar clutch a 2v5 situation - which the Czech player closed out with a 1v2 clutch.

Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage and co. did not let that get to them and eventually levelled up the score, but neither teams would be able to put the game to bed in regulation, or even in the first two overtimes. After a tremendous back-and-forth affair, which saw Nifty come up huge with an impressive +23 KDD (51 kills), Renegades were able to take the series to a third map.

Nifty had a breathtaking performance on Inferno

mousesports got off to a flying start on the deciding map, Train, as they picked up a five-round winning streak as Terrorists. But Renegades started tightening up their defence from there, losing a single round before bagging a narrow 7-6 score.

That was when mousesports came back to life with a near-flawless round, yet Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad's squad was the one who switched sides with the lead. In the second pistol, mouz equalized things off after Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk and oskar clutched a 2v4 situation, with the 26-year-old finding three of their opponents.

In the gun round, oskar had assured his team of remaining in the driving seat with a 1v2 clutch, and then mousesports further added to their lead in the next two rounds, 12-8. Still, Renegades did not want to throw in the towel and won four rounds in a row to tie up the score.

mousesports responded with their 13th round, but Renegades immediately broke their economy, opening up a way for the Australians to grab a minimum lead. mouz still levelled up the score, but then both teams traded rounds back-to-back in what was a chaotic end of regulation.

In overtime, contrary to the latter stages of regulation, mousesports had a flawless display to wrap things up, 19-15, and seal passage to the IEM Sydney 2018 semi-finals over the home-crowd favourites.

IEM Sydney 2018 Best of 3 Renegades Matchpage 1 2 mousesports 7 Mirage 16 25 Inferno 23 15 Train 19