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We continue to follow what's happening at IEM Katowice 2025. If you didn't follow the professional Counter-Strike 2 scene last week, then you must not know about the IEM Katowice 2025 Long Round play-offs.
The top 6 teams from the Play-In and group stage made it to the main stage. Among them are Eternal Fire and The MongolZ, who will open the IEM Katowice 2025: Playoffs.
We are trying to find out who of the pair Eternal Fire - The MongolZ will be stronger and will pass to the next stage of the main stage, where the winner of this match is already waiting for Vitality.
Let's go.
Eternal Fire uniforms
Let's open the analysis of Eternal Fire vs The MongolZ match with an analysis of Eternal Fire's form. In this match they play as favourites with odds to win at around 1.7.
Eternal Fire started actively making their way to the title tournaments since the 2023 season. Then the team won the ESL Pro League Season 17: European Conference, thus securing a spot on the EPL S17. The Main Event ended miserably - only top 20 and not out of the group.
Participated in BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR B. There they took TOP-14, which was not enough to reach the only Major of the season.
In the middle of the year, Eternal Fire showed their best form. The Turks finished in the top 4 twice, but did so at TIR-B tournaments. They broke into the top four at CCT North Europe Series #7 and Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1.
- Eternal Fire roster: XANTARES, jottAAA, MAJ3R, Wicadia, woxic.
Before the ESL Pro League Season 8 Long Round, MAJ3R's team played on CCT Central Europe and Pinnacle Cup V. Both championships ended for them on top 8.
Eternal Fire played their debut match at ESL Pro League Season 18 against Cloud9. They played as the number two and got a natural result: 0-2, but with 11 and 12 rounds respectively.
In the first match of the lower grid Eternal Fire played against 9INE. The Turks were clearly on form, as they managed to run over a pretty tough competitor without much difficulty. The match ended with a score of 2-0 in favour of Eternal Fire. As a result, the ESL Pro League Season 18 run ended very well: the team barely qualified for the play-offs of the tournament, where they managed to win two series. EF left Astralis and BIG behind, but Ledge and Natus Vincere.
EF later made the Top 16 at Roobet Cup 2023, where they finished Top 16 and Top 2 at PARI, Please. In 2024, Eternal Fire attended PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European Qualifier B, where they finished in the Top 2, advancing to European RMR A.
IEM Katowice 2024 started with the Play-In stage. By the way, they passed it very easily: 13-1 against BB Team and 2-0 against Rebels Gaming allowed them to get into the group stage. In the first match of the group stage they also easily defeated Falcons (13-9; 13-6), and then showed a very cheerful CS in the match against the top-2 team of the world FaZe Clan, but Ledge were defeated on three maps (1-2). At the end of IEM Katowice 2024 Eternal Fire took the top 12, and then started to play at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European RMR A.
At the qualifying tournament, the Turks finished in the top 8, which gave them the opportunity to qualify for PGL CS 2 Major Copenhagen 2024, which is true in the first stage.
At PGL CS 2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Eternal Fire are feeling very good so far. The Turks have 2 wins and 1 loss: they beat Mongolz and Pain, but lost to Heroic 0-2 in the match for the next stage. However, they succeeded in their next attempt: they defeated GL with a score of 2-1.
Eternal Fire debuted in the legends stage with a surprise win against Vitality. However, in the second round they lost to MOUZ, which brought them to 1-1 score. And then there was a real sensation: 13-1 against FaZe Clan and 2-1 score for the Turks.
Eternal Fire got into the play-offs of the tournament after the victory over Vp. The match ended with the score 2-1. However, they failed to move beyond the first round, as NaVi were stronger than the Turks and closed the series with a score of 2-0.
They also attended ESL Pro League Season 19, where they failed, and quite seriously. The Turkish team took TOP-21-28. Then diametrically opposite situation at CCT Season 1: Global Finals and then - not leaving the group at YaLLa Compas 2024.
Eternal Fire got to IEM Cologne 2024 thanks to the ESL world ranking, but there they took the top 20, without having time to show anything. Then there were equally failed tournaments like IEM Rio 2024, with TOP-12 and failure at Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B with TOP-14.
The 2025 Long Season was followed by qualifiers at BLAST Bounty Season 1. There EF beat ENCE and Falcons. At the final stage of BLAST Bounty Season 1 Eternal Fire beat Vitality. Next up, they defeated G2 Esports to advance to the Grand Final, but lost to Spirit 1-3.
IEM Katowice 2025 Long Sogpeg started from the Play-In stage, where they easily earned two clean wins against Complexity and Heroic and qualified for the group stage. The group stage itself Long Sogpegged with a Basket A match against Falcons (2-0), but then Ledgeili Vp (1-2). In the match for life they defeated 3DMax, but the match was not easy, 1-2 in favour of the Turks. It was even harder in the play-offs match, where EF faced FaZe, but the Turkish five managed to beat them on the third map and qualify for the play-offs.
Eternal Fire mappool
The best map is Nuke. There are 4 matches and 4 wins.
Anubis (7 matches, 85% wins), Mirage (4 matches, 75% wins) are doing very well. Vertigo - 71% wins in 7 matches, Inferno and Overpass - 3 wins in 5 matches.
The MongolZ's Form
We continue the analysis of The MongolZ vs Eternal Fire match with the analysis of The MongolZ form. In this match the best team in Asia is playing as the number two with odds to win around 2.1.
Previously, the team played mostly in TIR-2 tournaments, where they were not always successful. Among the landmarks are the victory at the XSE Pro League: Online Stage and ESN National Champioship 2023.
However, the Mongolians have also made their mark on the international scene. They played at the BLAST.tv Paris Major, where they finished in the top 20-22.
- The MongolZ roster: bLitz, Techno4K, 910, mzinho, Senzu.
The conditional roster newcomers are mzihno and 910. Both players joined the team a month ago, and before that they played for local teams like Clutch and The Shine.
In the first match at IEM Cologne 2023 The MongolZ will face MOUZ, who have already reached the group stage of the tournament. As you have already realised, The MongolZ lost their match, but lost on the dopes, Ledgeiv Nuke with a score of 17-19.
Then MongolZ ran over Into The Breach with the score 2-0, and then closed FURIA with a similar score. Thus advanced to the group stage.
In the first match of the group stage of IEM Cologne 2023 The MongolZ faced Heroic. Despite the huge difference in the level of play, The MongolZ managed to take the first map and almost slammed Heroic on their own peak, Overpass, but didn't finish and eventually lost with the score 1-2. However, it didn't go any further and the result was a top-16 finish.
After playing in the big tournament, TheMongolZ played a lot of smaller events. These included the MESA Pro Series: Fall 2023, with a top-1 finish, a win at ESL Challenger League Season 46: Asia-Pacific, and a top-4 finish at ESL Challenger at DreamHack Atlanta 2023.
In the 2024 season, before playing directly at the PGL CS 2 Copenhagen Major Championship 2024, MongolZ won the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: East Asia Qualifier, which guaranteed passage to the Asia-Pacific RMR. There was a Top 1 at eXTREMESLAND 2023 and a Top 20 at IEM Katowice 2024 during the break, but after a win at PGL Copenhagen 2024: Asia-Pacific RMR, where MongolZ celebrated the victory.
At PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major 2024 The Mongolz did not achieve much success, although they managed to reach the top 16.
In the group stage of ESL Pro League Season 19 The MongolZ performed very well. They defeated Falcons and G2 Esports 2-0 to advance to the play-offs. However, the first round of the play-offs ended with The MongolZ losing to Vp with a score of 1-2, eventually finishing in the top 12.
The MongolZ went on to take the top-1 spots at MESA Nomadic Masters Spring 2024 and YaLLa Compass 2024. There were more Top-9s at Esports World Cup 2024 and a second place finish at Skyesports Championship 2024.
One of the central tournaments of the season for MongolZ was the IEM Cologne 2024 Championship, where the club managed to reach the top-12. A similar result was also at the ESL Pro League Season 20. In addition, the Mongolian club visited the IEM Rio 2024, where they got to the TOP-8.
They also played at Thunderpick World Championship 2024, where they placed TOP-1, which was a great Long Sogpeg before the Asian RMR. At the home RMR, The MongolZ came out on top by taking two matches out of two.
The main tournament of the 2024 season was PW Shanghai Major 2024. The MongolZ demolished the Opening Stage with a 3-0 win, and then secured the result at the Elimination Stage with another 3-0 win over G2, MOUZ and Heroic. The MongolZ lost in the first round of play-offs to MOUZ, who were outplayed in Bo1. Thus, The MongolZ finished in the top 8 at PW Shanghai Major 2024.
The MongolZ started the 2025 season with an appearance in the group stage of IEM Katowice 2025. There the team beat Liquid and GamerLegion, earning a slot in the first round of play-offs. They failed to advance directly to the semi-finals: NaVi were much stronger (2-0) in the Group B final.
Mapple The MongolZ
The most successful map for 3 months was Ancient. The team has 100% winrate, but the map was played only 1 time.
Among the acceptable options for the peak there is Mirage with 1 win 1 loss.
On the other maps of the competition pool The MongolZ has a minus winrate.
History of head-to-head meetings between Eternal Fire and The MongolZ
In the season 2024 the teams have played each other 5 times, The MongolZ won three times and Eternal Fire won twice.
Predicted result of The MongolZ vs Eternal Fire at IEM Katowice 2025
In this match I expect equal play from the two teams. The MongolZ and Eternal Fire are still in the middle of the pack, but are very close to being among the best teams in the world. There is no need to talk about the importance of the match for both teams, so I want to see a full-fledged Bo3.
Bottom line: total +2.5.
