MongolZ and MOUZ Set Up IEM Beijing Grand Final

Two sweeps set the final

IEM Beijing 2026 will end with a grand final between The MongolZ and MOUZ after both teams won their semi-finals 2-0 on Saturday, 7 November 2026. The MongolZ beat Natus Vincere on Cache and Inferno, while MOUZ swept BetBoom on Ancient and Mirage, and neither losing side forced a deciding map. The winners meet in a best-of-five grand final on Sunday, 8 November, with the Counter-Strike 2 event's $1,250,000 prize pool on the line.

The day produced two very different sweeps. The MongolZ survived long spells of pressure from Natus Vincere, including a late comeback attempt on Inferno, before closing both maps by two rounds. MOUZ recovered from a slow start on Ancient and then controlled the second half of Mirage. Both finalists won their groups and skipped the quarter-finals. For The MongolZ, it is a first Big Event grand final appearance in 14 months, and a first chance to play for a title since FISSURE Playground 2 last September.

bLitz leads MongolZ past NAVI

The MongolZ opened by winning their opponents' pick of Cache 13-10. Garidmagnai "bLitz" Byambasuren led with 24 kills on the map and a 1.71 impact rating, and The MongolZ made the most of several unlikely rounds won with little more than pistols around a saved AWP. Natus Vincere briefly took the lead in the second half, winning five rounds in a row on the attack, but a timeout and a more proactive defence helped The MongolZ win four of the final five rounds.

Inferno was tighter still. Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov, quiet on Cache, came alive to rescue a difficult start for Natus Vincere, who stayed in the match deep into the second half. The MongolZ again won a round with only pistols to start the half, then took the lead from a 1v2 clutch by Sodbayar "Techno" Munkhbold. Yesuntumur "nin9" Gantulga also produced a 1v2, and The MongolZ held off a late comeback to win Inferno 13-11.

Across the series bLitz finished with 42 kills against 26 deaths and a 1.49 rating, the best mark in the match. Techno added 35 kills and a 1.20 rating, while w0nderful led Natus Vincere with 37 kills and a 1.14 rating. Natus Vincere had reached the semi-final by beating PARIVISION 2-1 in the quarter-finals on Friday, 6 November, while The MongolZ had won Group A, including a 2-1 win over FURIA in the seeding match that ended the Brazilian side's seven-match winning run.

MOUZ stay perfect against BetBoom

MOUZ beat BetBoom 2-0, winning Ancient 13-7 and Mirage 13-8, and have yet to drop a map in Beijing. Dorian "xertioN" Berman led with 40 kills against 20 deaths and a 1.67 rating, while Oldrich "PR" Novy added 35 kills and a 1.43 rating. BetBoom, who had beaten FURIA 2-1 in the quarter-finals, could not repeat the upset against a team that had already beaten them 2-0 in the group stage.

Ancient began badly for MOUZ. BetBoom raced to a 4-0 lead behind fast starts from Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov and Pavel "S1ren" Ogloblin, whose aggressive attack caught MOUZ flat-footed. Coach Dennis "sycrone" Nielsen called a timeout, MOUZ disrupted the BetBoom offence, and xertioN's fragging carried the recovery as MOUZ took the lead by half-time. xertioN closed Ancient with a 1v3 clutch, and MOUZ controlled the second half to win 13-7.

Mirage was closer in the first half, with MOUZ starting strongly through B-site hits before Boombl4 and Aleksandr "zorte" Zagodyrenko dragged BetBoom back and the score was tied at the break. The second half turned quickly: PR smashed a BetBoom B rush with four USP headshots, MOUZ answered BetBoom's aggression with set executes, and the European side never looked back on the way to a 13-8 win. The veto had already favoured MOUZ: BetBoom allowed the first two maps to be the same ones they had lost to MOUZ in the group stage, and the gamble did not pay off.

What the final means

The final pairs two teams with contrasting routes to the title match. MOUZ arrive as the form team, unbeaten on maps and fresh from a semi-final in which every player contributed. The MongolZ arrive as the story of the event, a Mongolian side that has beaten the world's best team and one of the game's most decorated organisations in the same week, and now stands one series from its first Big Event title in more than a year.

The match also matters beyond Beijing. IEM Beijing is one of the biggest events ahead of the Major, and while Team Spirit and Vitality chose to skip it, it has served as a revealing test for the teams chasing them. A title for MOUZ would confirm their status at the top; a title for The MongolZ would be a landmark for Mongolian Counter-Strike. The individual battle will be worth watching too: bLitz and xertioN both topped their semi-final series in kills and rating, and both have shown they can take over a map when their team needs it most.

What comes next

The best-of-five grand final takes place on Sunday, 8 November, with the winner taking $360,000 from the $1,250,000 prize pool. The third-place match is also scheduled for Sunday, giving Natus Vincere and BetBoom one more match to end their tournaments on a win. The MongolZ will hope their pistol-round magic and clutch play hold for one more series; MOUZ will hope their unbeaten map record speaks for itself. Either way, Sunday's final will crown a deserved winner after a semi-final day in which both finalists earned their place in straight maps.