The MongolZ

The path of The MongolZ in esports: from a regional team to the top 5 of the world rankings

Last year, the esport team The MongolZ celebrated its 10th anniversary, and this year, for the first time in the history of Mongolian Counter-Strike, it reached the top of the world rankings. This success is due to the team’s strong spirit, while the relaunch of the project and last year’s achievements became a reality thanks to the support of the team’s new sponsor, the international betting brand 1xBet. This sports betting platform is visited by over 3,000,000 sports bettors every month, and a significant part of them are in Singapore esports betting.

2013-2015: First steps in esports

The MongolZ esports organization was founded on August 20, 2013, a week after the third ever Dota 2 tournament at The International ended. This esport is very popular in Asia for online betting, so the Mongolian players decided to try their hand at it. The team’s name wasn’t chosen by chance: from the very beginning, the founders wanted to represent their country on the international stage.

Two years later, the organization decided to expand and announced the squad for the online shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In 2015, no one thought that it was the CS team that would make history. While Dota 2, League of Legends and other MOBA games were dominated by teams from Asia, the top places in shooters were always held by European teams.

However, Mongols have a lot of determination and confidence, so The MongolZ set out to conquer the esport Olympus just the day after signing players! Moreover, they didn’t start in a modest local tournament, but in the qualification for the major ESL One: Cologne 2015.

The MongolZ received a special invitation to the offline Asian Qualifier and travelled to Kuala Lumpur in person. To qualify for the major, they had to finish first or second out of eight teams. The Mongols lost their first battle against the Australian Team Immunity on the Mirage map with a 16-10 score, although they won the first half of the match. The team’s best player, Tsog “Tsogoo” Mashbat, had statistics worthy of a professional: K-D 25-20 and a 1.28 rating. Later, it turned out that the Mongols lost their first match to the future winners of the Asian Qualifier: Team Immunity qualified for the ESL One: Cologne 2015 from the first place.

The Korean team myRevenge was the next opponent in the battle at Inferno. It was the same story: the Mongols had easily won the first half 10-5, but lost the match with a 16-14 final score.

Two losses at the start could have broken the young team, but the disappointing statistics only strengthened the team’s spirit and convinced the Mongols to keep fighting. The MongolZ learnt from their failures and achieved their first positive results by the end of 2015. At MixBOT Pro-League Invite Season 1 and D!ngIT CS:GO Asia Invitational Season 1, the team won silver, and at D!ngIT CS:GO Asia Invitational Season 2, they won gold.

2016-2022: winning IEM Season X Taipei, ups and downs

The MongolZ had a real breakthrough the following year. At the East Asian Qualifier for the serious IEM Season X Taipei tournament, the team didn’t lose a single map and took first place. Being newcomers to the main tournament didn’t stop The MongolZ from literally destroying all their opponents, taking first place and winning a record $30,000 in prize money! And thanks to the underdog’s victory, many fans of esports betting Singapore earned solid money in this tournament.

The triumph in Taipei secured the team an invitation to the larger IEM Season X World Championship tournament in Katowice, Poland, where The MongolZ were in for a cold shower. The level of European teams turned out to be much higher than that of teams from Asia: The MongolZ lost all 5 group stage matches and were the first to leave the tournament.

In those days, Counter-Strike was dominated by the British Fnatic and the Swedish Ninjas in Pyjamas, to whom the Mongols lost most devastatingly: 4-16 and 5-16 respectively. The MongolZ drew the right conclusions from those defeats and started training according to the methodologies of European teams.

Over the next few years, the team experienced short-lived ups and long-lasting downs, and the only thing that could be credited to the team during this period was winning the ASUS ROG Masters 2016 tournament. The team regularly finished last at different tournaments, and The MongolZ managers completely changed the roster several times. Such radical steps didn’t help, and when in October 2022 another squad left the organization, the project was frozen.

Unlike The MongolZ, the young Mongolian team IHC Esports had a great 2022. In the spring, they signed former Checkmate players bLitz, Techno4K, Bart4k, kabal, nin9, sk0R and coaches maaRaa and kaz. Just a month after its creation, the Counter-Strike team won the Asia-Pacific RMR for PGL Major Antwerp 2022 and qualified for its first major. Nevertheless, at the tournament itself, IHC Esports won only one out of four matches and got eliminated at the first stage. It was the same story at the IEM Rio Major: the team took first place at the Asia-Pacific RMR Qualifiers, but finished the main tournament in 20th place with the same 1-3 score. During this time, Annihilation replaced nin9, and hasteka replaced sk0R.

Why are we telling you about IHC Esports? You’re about to find out.

2023: project relaunch, partnership with 1xBet

At the beginning of April 2023, The MongolZ unexpectedly announced the relaunch of the project and showed a new roster. These were bLitz, Techno4K, Bart4k, Annihilation, hasteka, as well as coaches kaz and maaRaa. Do these names sound familiar? Yes, this is the same IHC Esports roster we’ve already told you about. The team decided to leave their organization and build a new team based on the legendary tag The MongolZ.

The head of IHC Esports let the players go to fulfill their dreams, even though they had valid contracts at the time. The management’s positive decision was influenced by the fact that the young Mongolian players didn’t go to earn money to play for European teams, but stayed in their home country to represent Mongolia on the international stage. Supporting esports in Mongolia is so important to IHC Esports that the organization is willing to sacrifice its own interests for the sake of it. Another important factor was that 1xBet has a long-standing partnership with IHC Esports, and the organization was confident that its long-time partner would fully support the new team.

The resurrection of The MongolZ project became a reality largely thanks to the new partner, the international betting company 1xBet. This brand has long and successfully cooperated with major esports teams (MIBR, Beastcoast, Bestia), tournament operators (ESL, PGL, MESA) and media resources (HLTV). By the way, this brand is well known to all fans of esports Singapore betting, as 1xBet actively covers all major esports tournaments and offers a number of special promotions for them. Working in the esports sector has allowed 1xBet to accumulate valuable experience, and the company is happy to share it with the new partner.

1xBet doesn’t just respond to any request from the team, but is also the first to offer options for the development of The MongolZ. It’s not just about help in creating a training base, buying uniforms, paying for flights or accommodation during tournaments. For example, 1xBet noticed that the team lacks training with international level opponents in Mongolia and organized a bootcamp for The MongolZ in Europe. Besides, with the support of 1xBet, The MongolZ have increased their worldwide audience through active work on social media, creating video blogs and meeting fans.

Another special moment was the creation of the mural dedicated to the team in Mongolia’s capital. It appeared after The MongolZ qualified for the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024. The graffiti was initiated by 1xBet: the brand hired the best street artists and chose a building in a popular neighborhood of Ulaanbaatar for the mural. In the first days after its appearance, social networks were filled with selfies of happy fans against the background of the fresh graffiti depicting the players of the team.

Immediately after the relaunch, the team went successfully through the Asia-Pacific RMR qualifiers for the big BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 tournament, but got eliminated after the first stage. The managers made conclusions and decided to replace Bart4k and Annihilation. Two new players were invited: sniper 910 and rifler mzinho, who was only 15 years old at the time he got the invitation!

In the autumn of 2023, the last change took place: another young talent, 17-year-old rifler Senzu, joined the team instead of hasteka. At the beginning of 2024, the average age of The MongolZ players was only 18,8 years old – the youngest team in HLTV Top 30 rankings. With the arrival of Senzu and the appointment of kaz as CEO, the right chemistry was created, and The MongolZ started winning.

2024: triumphs at YaLLa Compass and Thunderpick World Championship, qualifying for the Perfect World Shanghai Major

The team qualified for PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 and broke the curse of the first stage by successfully overcoming it with a 3-2 score. In early June, The MongolZ won the local MESA Nomadic Masters Spring 2024 tournament and earned $50,000. Only a week later, they lifted the championship trophy of the YaLLa Compass 2024 international tournament in Abu Dhabi and got a then-record $200,000 in prize money! During the tournament, the Mongols had the particular pleasure of beating their old rivals Ninjas in Pyjamas, first at the group stage with a 13-6 score, and then in the tournament final with a 2-1 score.

After that, the team won silver at Skyesports Championship 2024, bronze at Elisa Masters Espoo 2024 and performed well at the top tournaments IEM Cologne 2024, ESL Pro League Season 20 and IEM Rio 2024. In autumn, The MongolZ travelled to Berlin for the Thunderpick World Championship 2024 and won the tournament earning an impressive $500,000 in prize money. During the tournament, the MongolZ defeated another old acquaintance from Fnatic with a 2-0 score: the era of The MongolZ has come!

The victories of MongolZ attracted much attention, and the team reached the top of the HLTV and Valve world rankings. In November 2024, The MongolZ is ranked among the top 10 Counter-Strike teams in the world according to HLTV, and also broke into the top 5 of the world rankings according to Valve. This is a very serious achievement for a team from Asia. The MongolZ are the only representatives of the region in the top 20, and the higher places are held only by the world’s best teams: G2, NAVI, Vitality and Spirit.

In mid-November, The MongolZ took first place at the Asia-Pacific RMR and qualified for the most important tournament Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024. The players’ emotions from getting to the second major of the year were unforgettable: this is a real opportunity for them to not just play at a major, but to win it for the first time in the history of Mongolian esport! The team really can do it, so all we have to do is support The MongolZ at the tournament, which will be held in Shanghai from November 30 to December 15, 2024. Don’t miss this important tournament and make live esports betting Singapore on the platform of the team’s partner 1xBet!

The story of The MongolZ inspires young esports fans around the world: after all, if young players from Mongolia have achieved such success, everyone has a chance. It’s important to note the significant role of the partner 1xBet in the team’s achievements: the support of the reliable bookmaker allows The MongolZ players to focus on training and not be distracted by minor issues. As we’ve already seen, the support of big brands is vital for young esports teams and regions.