The MongolZ prevail over BIG to reach second round of EPL playoffs

Individual plays on the Mirage decider tipped the scales in the Mongolian team's favor.

The MongolZ got past big in the first round of the ESL Pro League Season 20 playoffs. The series was a close one, going to triple-overtime on Ancient and down to the wire on Nuke before the Mongolians claimed it on Mirage.

Garidmagnai "⁠bLitz⁠" Byambasuren and his men came out punching on Ancient and won eight attacking rounds in a row to turn an opening 4-0 deficit into a 4-8 lead at the half, but BIG didn't let up and won eight of their own in the second half to force overtime thanks to a quad-kill by Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz in the 24th.

Jon "⁠JDC⁠" de Castro had a crucial triple-kill A defense to keep his team from giving up the map in the second series of overtime rounds when up against map point, a watershed moment before BIG went on to steal The MongolZ's map pick 22-19.

On Nuke it was once again a game of small margins. The Upper bomb site duo of Azbayar "⁠Senzu⁠" Munkhbold and Usukhbayar "⁠910⁠" Banzragch played a crucial role in getting enough CT-side rounds as to give their team a fighting chance on the offense.

A 4-8 lead proved to be enough, albeit barely, as a heroic bLitz 1vs2 put his team on map point which would only be converted four rounds later, in the final round of regulation, to make it 13-11.

After two hard-fought maps Mirage promised to be an enthralling clash between the two sides and it was, but excellent individual plays by The MongolZ on the attack swayed the balance in their favor. A 1vs3 by bLitz with a picked up AWP and an AK quad-kill by 910 put their team in the driver's seat.

BIG tried to recompose themselves after a hard 3-9 half, but to no avail, as The MongolZ carried it past the finish line 13-9 to secure a spot in the second round of the playoffs.

Up next for The MongolZ will be a bout against Eternal Fire. The two teams last clashed at the IEM Cologne Play-in, where the Mongolians got the better of their Turkish counterparts.

The two teams have played each other three times, with Erdenedalai "⁠maaRaa⁠" Bayanbat's men holding a positive 2-1 balance in the three matches between the two sides..

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 20
18/09/2024	Eternal Fire 13:00 The MongolZ	Match

"We played better against them and we were also lucky," Sodbayar "⁠Techno⁠" Munkhbold told the ESL broadcast when asked about beating Eternal Fire last time ahead of their match on Wednesday, "I think it will be a tough match."