100 Thieves stumble in "soft debut" with loss to MOUZ NXT in IEM Atlanta Open Qualifier

100 Thieves' new Counter-Strike 2 roster made their long-awaited debut today in the online IEM Atlanta Global Open Qualifier, seeing the team advance into the round of 64 before being felled by MOUZ's academy team, MOUZ NXT, in an unexpected 13-8 loss for the star-studded new roster.

The result came after 100 Thieves received a bye in the first round, a walkover win in round two, and an easy 13-4 win a completely unknown squad named QueenConso in round three. From there 100 Thieves' road to Atlanta hit an unexpected brick wall as a standout performance from MOUZ NXT's Nikolai "Nikodeon" Sørensen propelled the academy squad to a 13-8 win on Dust2.

Before anyone freaks out, 100 Thieves' Head of CS Operations Graham "messioso" Pitt previously stressed that this qualifier should be taken as a "soft debut" for the team as it is an online qualifier and that the team's true focus will be the LAN events the team are set to attend, with the first being the Roman Imperium Cup V on February 19th in Portugal.