The MongolZ break Eternal Fire's Anubis streak to make Katowice semi-final

The Turks came into the match with an eight-match win streak on Anubis but lost 7-13 to a red-hot Mongolian side.

The MongolZ defeated Eternal Fire in the IEM Katowice quarter-final with a 2-0 scoreline (13-7 Anubis, 22-18 Mirage) to lock in a spot in the semi-final, where they will face Vitality.

Date	Matches
IEM Katowice 2025
08/02/2025	Vitality 15:45 The MongolZ	Match

The series began on Anubis, a map Eternal Fire had an eight-match win streak on ahead of the quarter-final. Their CT side was far from great, though, as they only mustered four rounds, one off the back of an Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın highlight and a few due to The MongolZ running out of time.

The second half wasn't much better for the Turkish side, whose win streak ended with a 7-13 loss on their home turf.

Mirage began in the same vein, with The MongolZ running away to a 5-0 lead before Eternal Fire recovered to 4-8 despite Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş and Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker having a slow start to the map.

The Turkish side found a second wind in the second half and put together an 8-2 streak to force overtime, where a winner couldn't be decided until the third OT. The MongolZ finally took the game by the scruff of the neck and posted a flawless CT side before closing out a 22-18 win, which netted them a semi-final spot.

The Spodek didn't faze The MongolZ

The MongolZ are a team with little to no stage experience, something that reared its head at the Shanghai Major, where they couldn't carry their group-stage form into the quarter-final against MOUZ.

This time around, however, the Garidmagnai "⁠bLitz⁠" Byambasuren-led team remained composed through a marathon Mirage and eventually found the strength to close it out and remain in the running for the Katowice title.

"We weren't as comfortable on the stage in Shanghai as now," admitted Sodbayar "⁠Techno⁠" Munkhbold, while adding that being the first Asian team in the Spodek "felt great."

While The MongolZ are yet to win a map in any of their three matches against their semi-final opponents Vitality across the last 12 months, their improvement in front of the crowd might get them over the line this time.

The same can't be said for Eternal Fire

Eternal Fire are also in a similar boat in terms of arena experience, but the crowd seemed to have a much bigger effect on the Turks, something Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli confirmed in a post-match interview with Eefje "⁠sjokz⁠" Depoortere.

"Today was a bad day, our Anubis CT side was really poor because of the communication and atmosphere," MAJ3R began.

"We didn't play at our level from the studio, we made a choke in front of the crowd. We need to learn from that and be better for next time, but I'm sure we will have another chance to play in front of a crowd in the next events."

The loss marks another arena defeat for Eternal Fire, who also lost their match in the Copenhagen Major playoffs in their only other arena appearance. While their form in studio events, such as BetBoom Dacha and BLAST Bounty, is an encouraging sign, they will need to get rid of their stage jitters to truly challenge the best teams in the world.