This victory obtained by The MongolZ at YaLLa Compass was long overdue. The Asian team has been playing very well for more than a year, winning numerous B-tier and A-tier CS2 events. So it was just a matter of time until they won an S-tier competition.
Even before the Grand Final began, the fans knew that Ninjas in Pyjamas would have a difficult match. The two teams had already played against each other in the group stage of YaLLa Compass and the result was a clear victory in favor of The MongolZ: 6 – 13 on Nuke.
Coincidentally, the third map of the Grand Final was decided on the same map, and the score was identical.
The MongolZ’s Performance
The MongolZ started YaLLa Compass in group A, where they had to compete against NiP, Astralis, HEROIC, ENCE, and Sashi Esport. The only team who managed to beat them was Astralis.
Thanks to winning the group, Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren and his squad advanced directly to the semifinals, where they encountered their group stage nemesis, Astralis.
The two teams lost their map picks. The MongolZ beat Astralis on Nuke (13 – 7) and then lost on Mirage (6 – 13). The fate of the match was decided on Ancient and the fans experienced a true emotional rollercoaster. Astralis had plenty of chances to win in overtime, but eventually lost 22 – 19.
With this victory, The MongolZ were ready to face NiP again. The first map of the match was Ancient, and NiP had a dominant start. After the first half, the score was already 3 – 9 in their favor. But in the second half, their opponents managed to win with the same score.
The only problem is that they didn’t have anything left in the tank for overtime and lost 12 – 16. The comeback, however, was good enough for the Asian squad to send a clear message. On the 2nd and 3rd maps, it was very obvious who the stronger side was.
The MongolZ won 13 – 7 on Mirage and 13 – 6 on Nuke. This was arguably one of the greatest victories registered by an Asian team in the history of Counter-Strike.
No doubt, a lot of players from the region will be inspired by what The MongolZ achieved here and start to challenge European teams a lot more in the years to come.
