xertioN: "We just played perfectly in a lot of rounds"

"Right now, I'm feeling in a good spot," he said when asked about his uptick in form in arena matches.

MOUZ have locked up a spot in the semi-final stage of BLAST Open Lisbon with a quick 2-0 victory over G2 at the MEO Arena. Their win was decorated by an imperious display from Dorian "⁠xertioN⁠" Berman, who racked up 10 opening kills on Inferno and averaged a series-high 1.83 rating.

It has been a fantastic start to 2025 for the Israeli rifler, who signed a new, multi-year contract with MOUZ earlier this month. He was MOUZ's best player in their title-winning campaign at PGL Cluj-Napoca, where the MVP medal was snatched by Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač.

"I don't think that I'm affected by the arena that much," he told HLTV after the match. "It might be a cliché to say it, but for me, it's more about feeling confident in the server, like making sure that I do my things, like practice my util or run around the server and have ideas, have a good game plan for myself.

"For me, it's just more about in-game, like how I feel with the team."

This win puts MOUZ on a collision course with Eternal Fire in the semi-finals, which will mark the first encounter between two of the most in-form teams of the year so far.

Date	Matches
BLAST Open Lisbon 2025
29/03/2025	Eternal Fire17:30 MOUZ	Match

"We're going to focus on ourselves, just like we did today," xertioN said. "We know that on paper, we can be the better team. So we've just got to play our best game."

A 2-0 victory against G2 and you're through to the semi-finals here in Lisbon. It was a fantastic team performance. Give me your thoughts on this series because you made it look very easy today.

 Well, maybe it looked easy, but it was not. I think we had to grind out every round and we just played the situations correctly. We didn't try to force the rounds too early or too late. We just played perfectly in a lot of rounds. So I think that we can learn a lot from today; we just have to play our game, and we can beat anyone.

G2 went with an Inferno pick, and you had lost the previous four games on this map, one of those against G2. Can you tell me about your game plan? Because it felt like you were in control from the first gun rounds.

 Well, I think that we learned a lot from those losses that we had. I think Inferno was and will always be a comfort map for us. It's a map that I like a lot and where I think that I've been underperforming a bit lately. So I think that was a big reason. I'm happy today that I came up with a good game plan, and it worked out well for us.

On Inferno, you had 10 opening frags and you went 9-3 in duels against malbs. And on Nuke, you had 18 kills. These were two of your best playoff performances. You were a man on a mission today.

Of course I'm always looking to improve, and I think that, without my team, I wouldn't be able to do it. I'm just happy that the team always gives me the trust to continue to be at my best, doing what I can do. Today it was better. Maybe on another day, it will be a bit worse, but no matter what, I know my teammates always have my back.

Something that has held you back in the past was your arena performances, but this year, you seem to be improving in this area. You were in the MVP conversation in Cluj-Napoca, and today you delivered one of your best ever playoff performances. Can you tell me about the work you've been doing to try to be more consistent when it comes to these arena games?

I think for me, it comes down a lot to more in-game stuff. I don't think that I'm affected by the arena that much. It might be a cliché to say it, but for me, it's more about feeling confident in the server, like making sure that I do my things, like practice my util or run around the server and have ideas, have a good game plan for myself.

So for me, it's just more about in-game, like how I feel with the team, you know? And right now, I'm feeling in a good spot. Today, all five gave our all, we played amazing today. For me, if that all connects together, I will play well. It doesn't matter if it's in a studio or arena.

You're here with Xyp9x as your coach instead of sycrone. Can you tell me a little bit about how Xyp9x is doing in the role, in terms of calling timeouts, making adjustments, and also helping Brollan with the game plan?

Well, this is his first time, so we were not really sure what we were going to get from Andreas, but I think that he did a really good job. He had a lot of really good reads on them. Like, what we could expect from the next round. And I think he just helped us with little inputs. Most of what he did was before the game, when he gave us the prep. I think he did a really good job there as well. Overall, I'm really happy with him. And we're going to celebrate today a bit.

You're now going to face Eternal Fire in the semi-finals. You haven't faced them since BetBoom Dacha in August, so it's been a while. What are your thoughts on this team and this matchup?

I think they are a really good team, and we need to play our best to beat them. I'm not sure how they'll play on stage. It'll be interesting to see it, but, overall, we're going to focus on ourselves, just like we did today. We know that on paper, we can be the better team. So we've just got to play our best game, and, yeah, we're going to take it home.

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