NAVI survive error-laden series to beat The MongolZ to TWC grand final

NAVI and FURIA will do battle to see which team takes home their second trophy of the year.

Natus Vincere are through to the grand final of Thunderpick World Championship after surviving a scrappy 2-1 series against The MongolZ in the Maltese event's semi-final.

It is the second time Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's men beat The MongolZ in just over a week, having won 2-0 at ESL Pro League Season 22 to secure a playoffs berth on October 10.

The victory also extends Natus Vincere's winning record against The MongolZ to 5-2 in 2025, but it was not one that came easy after Natus Vincere made several costly mistakes down the line, had to come from behind at the start of the series to steal away Mirage, got blown out on their Nuke pick, and fended off a comeback from The MongolZ on the decider after a hero AK round turned the game on its head at 11-10.

"This hero AK round, in hindsight, kinda won us the game," Aleksib told HLTV after the match. "But overall, both teams had pretty decent gun rounds on Ancient, we just managed to win the one round that actually was the most crucial to win the map."

Natus Vincere will take on FURIA in the $850,000 tournament's best-of-five grand final, marking the first time the two will do battle since the latter went international in April.

Both teams will be fighting for their second trophy of the year after Natus Vincere won StarSeries Fall and FURIA took home the trophy at FISSURE Playground 2, while The MongolZ and Aurora will face off in a third-place decider for the bronze medal.

Date	Matches
Thunderpick World Championship 2025
19/10/2025	Aurora 13:30 The MongolZ	Match
19/10/2025	FURIA 17:55 Natus Vincere	Match

The MongolZ ran out to a 7-2 lead after losing the pistol and conversion on their Mirage pick, spurred on by a 1v2 spray transfer clutch by Garidmagnai "⁠bLitz⁠" Byambasuren and a few multi-kills by Usukhbayar "⁠910⁠" Banzragch. Natus Vincere closed the deficit with three at the tail end of the half, but were left staring down the barrel of a 5-9 deficit early into the second before coming alive on the offense.

The MongolZ couldn't find a solution on the CT side as Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan repeatedly carved through their defenses, allowing Natus Vincere to win eight in a row and storm to a 13-9 victory.

Three superb USP-S shots saw Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov kick Nuke off with an unreal 1v4 clutch, but all of his hard work came undone as NAVI failed a Vent dive and let The MongolZ answer right back with a force-buy.

A 1v3 clutch by Ayush "⁠mzinho⁠" Batbold in the next shut down Natus Vincere's own force-buy before the map quickly spiraled out of control, with NAVI giving away a 5v2 in the first proper gun round and going on to tally just three rounds in a blowout loss.

A quad-kill from Drin "⁠makazze⁠" Shaqiri kept Natus Vincere ahead early doors on Ancient, only for their five-round lead to evaporate after they let slip several 5v4 situations. They regained control at the end of the half and after the swap, going up 11-6, but were made to wait for their victory after an untimely quick switch by Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy let The MongolZ claw back in a 3v4.

In the end, it was daylight robbery in a round with a hero AK and Glocks that swung momentum back in NAVI's favor, setting them on match point and allowing them to deny The MongolZ a comeback to secure a spot in the finals.