TheMongolz eliminate AMKAL to stay alive at the Major

The Mongolian squad have begun the road to recovery after a poor start in Copenhagen.

The MongolZ have kept their Major dreams alive by virtue of a 2-1 victory over AMKAL, claiming wins on Nuke (13-2) and Inferno (13-10) either side of a loss on Mirage (8-13).

Coming into PGL Major Copenhagen's opening stage The MongolZ were seen by many as a team that could qualify for the Elimination Stage, having displayed a mature brand of CS at the IEM Katowice Play-In earlier this year and dominated in the recent Asia RMR.

Their opening loss over Eternal Fire was not unexpected, but a loss to ECSTATIC left questions as to whether The MongolZ were the real deal. They showed flashes of brilliance in this series, particularly on Nuke and the second half of Inferno, which they will need to harness more often if they are to make the Elimination Stage.

AMKAL meanwhile see their Major run ended 0-3, and will be left ruing the chances they let slip. They mounted a powerful comeback against Apeks only to lose in overtime, and could have won Inferno against The MongolZ had they found a way to stabilise their shaky A site defense.

This series began on Nuke, where the MongolZ mounted a dominant defense, racking up ten rounds at the switch by shutting down everything the AMKAL offense had to offer. Their win was only a matter of time, and the Mongolian side made sure to close it out at the earliest opportunity as they ran away 13-3 winners.

Mirage was up next, and AMKAL recovered from a first-map drubbing to get a hot 6-2 start. The MongolZ then won a B rush with the help of Garidmagnai "⁠bLitz⁠" Byambasuren's Deagle which almost broke AMKAL's economy, but the Russian squad held on by the skin of their teeth to close out a 9-3 half.

The MongolZ's pistol-round victory gave them a chance at the comeback, and the Mongolian squad did well to reduce the deficit to 7-9. AMKAL stabilized after that, though, and won all but one round in the remainder of the half to close out the map 13-8. Aleksandr "⁠TRAVIS⁠" Timkiv proved pivotal for his team, as his crisp entries got the Russian squad over the line without much difficulty.

Inferno was a much closer affair than the previous two maps. The first half was split straight down the middle in typical Inferno style, with AMKAL's T side testing The MongolZ's defensive setups, finding gaps, only for the Mongolian side to adjust.

The MongolZ were simply too strong when the sides switched. Some individual moments of brilliance kept AMKAL in touching distance until the tail end of the half, when The MongolZ's potent A executes and bLitz's stellar entry work ended the map 13-10 in favor of the Mongolian squad.