On the ground at BLAST.tv Austin Major playoffs

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The MongolZ's Ayush "⁠mzinho⁠" Batbold gave us a minute after his team's victory over the home crowd favorites, FaZe, which puts them through to the Major's semi-finals, where they will face off against paiN.

On beating FaZe on stage with the crowd against them: "It's really great, winning on a Major stage, but first of all, we were the better team. Looking at the ranking, it's not an upset for me."

On facing paiN next: "They're a young team, like us. It will be an interesting fight, they're playing individually really good. It will be an interesting game, a tough game for us, I think."

On confidence moving forward: "The confidence is not too high, but having confidence in ourselves is good. Maybe at least grand finals. Semi-finals is achieved, so maybe now the grand finals for this Major."

In typical MongolZ fashion, a stoic sequence of high fives as always.

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We caught up with Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius before the playoffs, and now Natus Vincere are set to take on the tournament favorites, Vitality, in the third quarter-final series at the Moody Center.

On facing the favorites in the quarter-finals: "I feel like it doesn't matter, if you want to win the tournament or you want to have any chances at winning the tournament, you need to beat the best teams. It doesn't matter if you go quarter-finals, semi-finals, final... You play the tournament to win.

"Of course, you're going to focus on going one game at a time, but bombing out in the quarter-finals or reaching the semi-finals, or final, it doesn't change much. If we lose in the quarter-finals, it's okay, if we lose in the final... That's worse, but you're not going to be proud of yourself for reaching the final, you still lost."

On Vitality being a scary opponent: "I don't feel like other teams shouldn't be scared — us, especially. They're still a team, they're playing good CS and you have to counter that. You have to play even better. Maybe in the quarter-finals they won't feel that, but they won a lot of tournaments coming into the Major, but not the Major itself.

"They won six tournaments, and the Grand Slam, but the Major is still the most important tournament of all and if they don't win this one... At least I feel like they're thinking that if they don't win this one, it all goes to shit. So there's pressure on them in that aspect, but other than that they all cope well with pressure. It's going to be a very hard game."

On individual form: "I'm definitely in a good space mentally, and in a good spot gamewise, I feel like I'm hitting some good shots. The only game where I really sucked was against Spirit, but it was a team effort, we just didn't show up on the day. Even if I did show up, I don't think it would have changed the outcome of the game — we got smashed.

"But yeah, I feel confident going into the playoffs. I think what's most important is that everyone feels as themselves before the game. Doubts are going to be there, for sure, but it's about dealing with the doubts and playing what you know. Not overthinking. It's the quater-finals, it's the Major, just try to play, and that's it."

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On facing MOUZ: "They had a break between playoffs and the group stage, so they could be much better. They were struggling in the group stage, but it's fine, and Vitality were struggling in best-of-ones, but we don't underestimate them because of these performances. We'll play against them the way we know how to play, and that's it."

On having FaZe on the other side of the bracket: "FaZe have a good bracket to qualify for the final. The lower part, I would say it's weaker than the upper part of the bracket, so they have good chances to make it to the final and they're the favorite in their side of the bracket. They have experienced players, and FaZe is always very good in front of the crowd; it's their power."

On Vitality playing well after losing win streak: "Vitality are still the big favorites, but they still have some effect from the win streak. They won six championships in a row and they want to make it seven, and to end the season with a Major."

Before the doors opening, fans were lining up outside to get into the Moody Center ahead of today's quarter-final matches.

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Fans are now pouring into the Moody Center for the first day of the BLAST.tv Austin Major playoffs, which will pit Spirit vs. MOUZ in the first quarter-final match, followed by FURIA vs. paiN.

Date	Matches
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
19/06/2025	Spirit 21:05 MOUZ	Match
20/06/2025	FURIA 02:20 paiN	Match