torzsi on MOUZ's new system: xertioN and sycrone want to bring out the best in me

With xertioN taking over calling duties and the two young players xelex and PR joining the squad, MOUZ are still fine-tuning their new system. The results are already starting to show, though: ahead of their appearance at StarLadder StarSeries Autumn, they have reached two finals and won one title across their last three events, while their other run ended in the quarter-finals.

As the team's primary AWPer, torzsi believes that as the newcomers continue to settle in and the system keeps developing, this MOUZ lineup has the potential to become a consistent title contender. At the same time, his own form has also been strong recently, having averaged a 1.16 rating over the past three months. In torzsi's view, that is closely tied to xertioN and sycrone working hard to get the most out of him.

Q: You've been in very good form on the AWP lately. Over the past few years, we've also seen plenty of players go through ups and downs with the weapon. How did you gradually find your feel for it and get more and more comfortable in the role?

torzsi: It’s definitely a bit different compared to CS:GO. In CS:GO, it was easier to make proactive plays with the AWP.

But in CS2, peeker's advantage is very pronounced, so it's a bit harder for AWPers.

At the same time, I think an AWPer's performance depends heavily on the team's system. What exactly does the team need its AWPer to do? If you're more of a supportive AWPer and need to help the riflers create opportunities, your numbers naturally might not look especially good, and sometimes you may even end up using a rifle more often.

On a lot of maps, rifles are actually just more effective than the AWP, like on Inferno’s T side and Ancient’s T side. On those maps, running five rifles can be more efficient than bringing an AWP.

If you’re really going to use the AWP, then I think you should create opportunities around the AWPer and let him go for the opening kill. Otherwise, honestly, the AWP’s impact will be pretty limited.

Recently, MOUZ's system has gone through some changes, and I feel that xertioN and sycrone both want to bring out the best in me and make full use of what I can offer the team.

Lately, I feel like I’ve been doing pretty well. The last event probably wasn’t one of my best performances, but I hope I can step up again this time.

Q: The team has now added two young players. You were already very high on xelex before, and you’ve also been helping him develop. What’s your relationship like?

torzsi: xelex and I get along really well.

For me, it’s really great to see another Hungarian player truly break into the tier-one scene. Before, there was sl3nd, and now xelex has even become my teammate, which is really nice.

I really enjoy watching him grow, because he has put a lot of work into his game. I also think he has built a very good partnership with xertioN, and xertioN has helped him a lot.

They watch demo together, and through that process they gradually shape his playstyle and role.

sycrone has also given them a lot of help, going through demo with them and studying how he would handle different situations.

They've done a lot of really good work, and my main job is just to support xelex as much as I can, both in and out of the server.

Overall, he’s really outstanding. I think his talent is exceptional, and his individual skill is absolutely top-tier.

Q: Let’s talk about PR as well. He was previously ranked highly on the HLTV Rising Stars ranking and showed that he could carry games at GamerLegion, but since joining MOUZ he seems to be playing more of a role-player style. How do you view his integration into the team?

torzsi: We're still trying to figure out what this system should ultimately look like, but I think we're gradually finding the right direction now.

When PR first joined, we sometimes wanted him to entry frag, or play behind xelex and trade, but later we realized that probably wasn’t the best option.

Even though we won our first event after he joined, we still found some issues in our system through practice and at EWC, so we felt there were a few areas that needed adjusting.

We're still trying to find the style that suits PR best. But he really likes clutch situations, like 2v3s, post-plant situations, and so on.

So he may now take on more of a supportive role and have more impact in clutch situations and later in rounds.

That way, xertioN can lead the way on some rounds and entry for the team, while on others he can stay back as the IGL and provide support.

xertioN was already an outstanding entry fragger in his original role before, and I even think he was the best entry fragger at the time. Even now, despite taking on calling duties, he can still handle that side of the job.

So I think this kind of setup benefits everyone. xertioN can take entry duties in certain rounds, while PR can play more of a supportive role and get into more of the clutch situations he likes.

Q: You recently played in two BLAST events and even won the first one outright, but in between those runs you lost to FUT Esports at EWC. How do you view that defeat, and where do you think this MOUZ lineup stands compared to the previous version?

torzsi: After winning BLAST, we got to EWC and realized the team still had some flaws.

Sometimes getting slapped in the face head-on is a good thing—it makes you realize there’s still a lot you need to improve.

Playing at BLAST again helped us a lot, and making another final also made it a very good event for us.

So in our last three events, we made two finals, won one of them, and reached the quarterfinals in the other.

For a young team like us, I think this is already a very solid result. It also means the two newcomers get plenty of official match time and can build up a lot of experience.

Those experiences have been very helpful for us.

Like you said, in 2025 we spent a long time ranked No. 2 or No. 3 in the world, consistently making finals and semifinals. I think it feels somewhat similar now as well, but this time we still have a chance to really take that next step.

We already proved our potential at BLAST Bounty. At the last BLAST event, we made another run to the grand final, but in the end we couldn't hold up against Team Spirit.

But I think we're now proving more and more consistently that has what it takes to stay in the title race and actually lift trophies.