MongolZ team wins eXTREMESLAND 2023
The eXTREMESLAND 2023 tournament, featuring top Asian teams, was held last week, and The MongolZ from Mongolia emerged as the champions.
This is the first time a Mongolian team has won eXTREMESLAND. In 2016, The MongolZ reached the semi-finals, and in the 2021 online tournament, the Checkmate team competed against Team NKT in the final, with Team NKT winning 2-1.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the eXTREMESLAND tournament was held online for three years starting in 2020. This year, it returned to being a LAN event. According to the organizers, this year’s tournament had a prize pool of $50,000 as a transitional event. Starting in 2024, the prize pool will return to $100,000, and the selection process for the regional teams will be improved.
The MongolZ were matched against TYLOO in the group stage. After five overtimes on Inferno, they won with a score of 28-26 to advance. In the semi-finals, they faced Team NKT, winning 13-2 on Mirage, losing 9-13 on Nuke, and winning 19-17 on Ancient to advance to the grand final. In the final, they defeated China’s Lynn Vision, the top team from Group B, with scores of 16-14 on Ancient and 13-3 on Anubis, becoming champions with a 2-0 victory. They also competed in the IEM Chengdu 2024 Asian Zone Closed Qualifiers but lost 0-2 to TYLOO in the final, missing out on qualification.
Competition results:
- The MongolZ: $25,000
- Lynn Vision: $12,000
- 3-4. Team NKT: $4,000
- 3-4. TYLOO: $4,000
- 5-6. E9: $1,250
- 5-6. ACME: $1,250
- 7-8. NCTDK: $1,250
- 7-8. Incheon On Sla2ers: $1,250
The MongolZ team is flying from Shanghai to Poland this morning to take part in the Play-In stage of the IEM Katowice 2024 tournament starting on January 31. Their first opponent will be Brazil’s FURIA.