The first Asian team to qualify for the Top 16 at a CS Major in many years!
The MongolZ has become the first team from Asia to break into the Major top 16 in nearly six years. The last time a team from Asia secured a top sixteen spot was TYLOO at the FaceIT London Major 2018. The MongolZ took down Legacy on the final day of the PGL Copenhagen Major groups to secure their spot.
MongolZ qualifies for the PGL Copenhagen Major Elimination Stage
It was not an easy ride for the Asian squad as they started their Major journey with two best-of-one losses. Their inaugural match was against Eternal Fire on Nuke. The 6-13 loss did not inspire confidence in The MongolZ prospects at this Major.
Garidmagnai 'bLitz' Byambasuren was the only player with a positive KDA on Nuke. However, the team could not break through the Eternal Fire defense on a very CT-sided map that saw them lose.
The team’s next match was against ECSTATIC in Round 2, again, on Nuke. MongolZ had a significantly better performance this time around, but they were unable to match the aggression and precision of ECSTATIC’s Jonas "Queenix" Dideriksen. The 24-year-old may not have had the highest number of frags on the map, but his impact was visible throughout the game.
After going 0-2 in their opening matches, MongolZ had their task cut out for them. They were on the verge of elimination, but at least they would not face best-of-ones on Nuke anymore. Their first test was against AMKAL, and lo and behold, the first map of the series was Nuke. However, this time, after two losses in their opening matches, MongolZ were prepared. They thrashed AMKAL 13-2 on Nuke. The series ended in a 2-1 victory, with MongolZ dropping Mirage as their second map.
After a 2-0 victory over Lynn Vision Gaming, MongolZ were one series away from securing their elimination stage slot. The team came out guns blazing against the Brazilian squad. Despite the presence of the legendary Marcelo "coldzera" David, MongolZ was able to plow through the opposition's defense and stall their offense.
Ayush 'mzinho' Batbold ended the series with 36 kilsl to his name. He often had multi-frags to his name providing extremely impactful performances that led to round wins.
What’s next for Mongolz?
With this victory, The MongolZ have now secured their spot in the Elimination Stage. The top eight teams from the Opening stage qualify for the Elimination Stage. The rest of the eight teams are the best teams from the RMR events.
The PGL Copenhagen CS2 Major features 24 of the best Counter-Strike teams in the competition. The tournament has a massive $1.25 million prize pool. But for most attending teams, it is an opportunity to secure their name as a potential winner of the first-ever CS2 Major in history. Counter-Strike fans can catch all the action live on Twitch.
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