For the majority of 2018, Mousesports have managed to uphold themselves as a consistent top 5 team in the word, solidifying their status as a ‘budget FaZe’ as they even surpassed the heights of their more star-studded rivals.

While their rise could be contributed to a lack of quality in other areas of the scene, most notably FaZe’s tendencies to choke and the drop off of the MIBR/ex-SK core, it’s safe to assume most of their rise falls on their own individual abilities and their dominance on one of CSGO’s more iconic maps: Mirage.

But as the year has progressed, Mousesports have since faded from behind everyone’s dark horse for most events and instead regressed to an expected quarter final or semi final exit, preventing the roster from cementing themselves amongst the games elite at a time when it was arguably easiest to do so.

Addressing the Issues

For many, one of Mousesports main issues lied within the weakest fragging member of the roster: Martin “STYKO” Styk. While Mouz were known for having one of the game’s stronger AWPers in oskar, two star riflers in the shape of ropz and suNny and a high fragging IGL in ChrisJ, STYKO often lagged behind as the rosters more supportive element.

Arguably, while they needed this supportive element to make room for their stars to make the plays they were there for, it is true that often they were let down by an element of their game that couldn’t stand up to the skill of the others.

Clearly this was a sentiment shared by the other members of the roster, as by July when results had began to stagnate, STYKO was removed in favour of legendary Polish player, Snax. While the decision to acquire Snax was not met with positivity from some onlookers, it is inarguable that if he were to recapture his old form that he could take Mouz to the next level all by himself.

But what of the other issues?

Another of Mouz’s issues comes with their map pool. Although at one point they were considered to be the best Mirage team in the world, since then they have dropped off on the map to a worrying state, with losses coming to teams such as ENCE and AGO who they previously would have been expected to dispatch with no real troubles.

They have also struggled on Nuke in recent months, another map that similarly to Mirage they looked as if they could rely upon to take them past teams in a veto, but has since then become flat as they have been beaten comfortably twice by a strong Na’Vi side and their only victory has come against a pretty woeful NiP.

One of the key areas Mousesports definitely need to work on as they integrate Snax into the team more is the strengthening of their map pool, and given themselves a wider range to utilise to keep up with teams like FaZe and Astralis, or they risk a very disappointing end to September and the upcoming FACEIT Major.

The Big Issue

However I believe that Mousesports’ main issue is their playstyle, and that playstyle’s dependency on their primary AWPer: oskar.

There’s no denying oskar’s talent, or his ability to simply dominate games whenever he feels like it. But that is where the problem begins to set in. Oskar often goes missing and this temperamental streak is what begins to hold the team back when so much of their gameplan revolves around him hitting the shots he is known for.

So how do Mousesports rectify this?

Kicking arguably their star player would seem drastic and unjustified to many, especially if they were to watch a highlight reel of any Mousesports success story bar the second placed finish at ESL One Belo Horizonte. But I do feel it may be becoming necessary for the longevity of the plateauing roster if they are to have any future successes as a core.

The Options

Personally I believe that Mousesports have three options to fix their roster, if they wish to keep a primary AWPer outside of their versatile IGL ChrisJ, then it would make sense for them to pursue woxic. The 19 year old Turk has gone as far as he can in an average Hellraisers team, but as the star he showcases a clear talent and potential to be one of the AWPing greats. His dynamic style would complement that of the current roster and he has consistently proved himself as a highly impactful player.

Alternatively, ChrisJ reverts back to being the main AWPer and becomes more of a FalleN style IGL. He clearly has the capabilities, proving himself time and time again as Mousesports became runners up at ESL One Belo Horizonte, a tournament in which did main AWP and Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert stood in in oskar’s place.

If this was to be the case, then Mousesports would be in need of a rifling replacement for the outgoing AWPer, and now that NBK appears to be creating a new French roster, I think it leaves them with two options: ScreaM or kioShiMA.

ScreaM is an iconic player, known for his one-tapping ability, he is also in free agency, which would make him a cheap option. He is also by no means a bad player, and although he struggled for the most part in a poor EnVyUs roster, he has had a strong mid-2018 as the IGL role within that core transitioned from Happy to the aforementioned kio.

However, the one downside to ScreaM would be the continued lack of a true supportive element within the roster. Since his arrival to the team, Snax has taken up many of the supportive roles, and the addition of ScreaM would force him to continue doing so, or risk only picking up the restricted 2017 ScreaM.

The final option then, would be kioShiMa, the French talent who had an unfortunate 2017, and seemingly even more unfortunate beginning to 2018 as he joined EnVyUs before the organisation subsequently dropped the roster due to their continued poor performances. He then faced further frustrations as ex-EnVyUs (now under the name of Left Out) failed to qualify for the FACEIT Major this september.

Despite this series of unfortunate events, kio has shown promise in recent months. As a part of Left Out he did take up the IGL role, showcasing a similar potential to mould himself into that role in the same way ChrisJ has for Mousesports, which as a knock on could help ease the burden of the IGL role if the Dutchman was to take up the role of Primary AWP.

Kio is also a strong rifler capable of putting up far more consistent numbers than STYKO and potentially ScreaM too, as well as being able to free up Snax to become more aggressive and relieve the pressure to be the rosters designated support.

All being said, personally my preferred move for Mousesports would be to see the addition of kioShiMa. Not only is he an exceptional player, he would allow for both ChrisJ to take up AWPing, as well as the freeing up and potential return to form of Snax. A move that could see Mousesports cement their place amongst the elite.

I do not own any of the photographs used within this article