mouz NXT Victorious at WePlay Academy League Finals

The mousesports academy players were undoubtedly the best team in the WePlay Academy League. The Ninjas entered the Grand Finals with a map advantage, but mouz NXT swooped in with three decisive map victories to snatch the trophy!

For players like Jon “JDC” de Castro, this was the trophy of their careers. Even though Jon has a few years of experience within the German scene under his belt, he’s never broken through on an international level. But this has finally changed with mouz NXT and the Academy League!

MOUZ WERE FIRST IN THE GROUP STAGE

Their victory shouldn’t come as a surprise to viewers of the regular season. They came out on top with an 11-3 track record. The Ninjas managed to secure second place, BIG Academy ended up being third, and fnatic Rising had to fight through the Play-Ins to make it to the offline portion.

Back during the Group Stage, Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov was the top gunner. His 1.64 rating was simply unmatched. But NaVi Young didn’t make it to the Academy Finals – and so a different player took the top spot: JDC!

MOUZ TAKE A DETOUR TO THE GRAND FINALS

With one exception, mouz NXT were the standout performers at the event. They confidently made it past BIG Academy, but on the second map of the Upper Bracket Finals, the Ninjas dragged them through overtime. There, mouz narrowly lost and failed to compete on the third map. So the Young Ninjas actually made the Grand Finals first and fans started to worry whether mousesports would still make the jump.

On a close 16-14 scoreline, mouz made it past fnatic Rising. JDC managed to win his national derby against David “prosus” Hesse by a mile.

Once they arrived in the Grand Finals, the players faced off against NiP again. The Young Ninjas already held a map advantage, so they were only two map wins away from taking the trophy home. But Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás spoiled the show on Mirage with a 2.15 rating. The NXT squad concluded the map on a 16-2 scoreline, a much stronger presentation this time around. On the second map, the Ninjas had to fight back, but their opponents had everything under control again. After a 16-11 win, mouz NXT had effectively turned all the pressure onto the Ninjas and were one step away from victory – which they swiftly secured on a 16-9 scoreline. Even though the Ninjas had put up a great show early on in the event, mousesports had been able to make the necessary adjustments and improvements to their game plan. This was evident in the Grand Finals and goes to show that they’re simply the best academy team out there!

JDC DOMINATED THE EVENT

Back during the Group Stage, JDC didn’t even land a Top 10 spot on the player leaderboard. But at the Finals, he delivered a monster performance. Maybe his LAN experience helped him, having competed within the German circuit for years. With a 1.29 rating and a 1.34 KD, he really showed his true powers and potential. But his teammates Dorian “xertioN” Berman and Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás also managed to put up highlight-worthy performances, making mouz NXT an all-around strong squad.

WHAT’S UP NEXT?

JDC and his men will soon have to defend their title! The WePlay Academy League will host a second season this year, which probably includes another high-quality LAN event like this one. The other teams have some catching-up to do, but for many players, this was their very first LAN outing. So this was a necessary step to prepare these rosters for the fight against pro teams. But even during this inaugural season, we’ve already witnessed some players making a name for themselves. Maybe we’ll see them sign for some top teams in the near future.