MOUZ sweep The MongolZ 3-0 to win IEM Beijing 2026

After Saturday's semi-finals set up the meeting, Sunday's grand final settled it in emphatic fashion. MOUZ swept The MongolZ 3-0 to win IEM Beijing 2026, taking Mirage 13-5, Dust2 13-6 and Inferno 13-4 in a best-of-five series that rarely looked like a contest. The victory, played out at the Biohyalux ECM Arena in Beijing, gave MOUZ the first Intel Extreme Masters title in the organisation's history in Counter-Strike 2 and in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive before it, and their second trophy of 2026 after their BLAST Bounty win in August. It also completed a flawless run through the event: MOUZ did not drop a single map in Beijing, beating TYLOO, BetBoom twice, PARIVISION and The MongolZ on their way to the title. According to HLTV, only 16 teams have ever won a HLTV-classified Big Event without losing a map, and MOUZ are now the latest name on that short list.

Mirage sets the tone

The final opened on Mirage, MOUZ's pick, and for a short while The MongolZ looked ready to make a series of it. The Mongolian side took an early lead and had MOUZ's economy under control, but an overpeek by Anarbileg "cobrazera" Uuganbayar opened the B site and let MOUZ into the map. Dorian "xertioN" Berman and his team never looked back, winning 10 of the next 11 rounds to cruise to a 13-5 victory, with xertioN leading the scoreboard for his squad. MOUZ closed the first half 8-4 ahead and then started their defence with a 5-0 run, allowing The MongolZ only a single round before the map was gone.

Dust2: the surprise pick slips away

The MongolZ's surprise pick of Dust2 followed much the same storyline. Usukhbayar "910" Banzragch and his AWP kept his team in the game early on, and the two sides reached the break level at 6-6, the closest the final ever came to feeling competitive. Then MOUZ took over completely. A flawless seven-round streak on the offence dismantled the MongolZ defence piece by piece, and MOUZ closed the map 13-6 without dropping a single round after the switch. That put MOUZ one map from the trophy and left The MongolZ with no room for error and no obvious way back into the series.

Inferno closes a flawless week

Inferno, the third map, confirmed that MOUZ were not about to let the occasion slip. They opened with a 9-3 offensive half, trading rounds early before stringing together a run of eight in a row, and the second half was a formality. MOUZ found their footing quickly after the break and pulled in three rounds in a row to close the map 13-4, sealing the series and the title. The MongolZ, who had taken the longer road to the final by reverse-sweeping FURIA in the group stage and then beating NAVI 2-0 in Saturday's semi-final, never won more than six rounds on any map. MOUZ, by contrast, looked like a team that had finally learned how to finish the job, after a run of second-place finishes in grand finals that had begun to define them.

xertioN, the MVP of a rebuild

The final belonged above all to xertioN. The MOUZ in-game leader finished the series with a 1.44 rating across the three maps and a 47-32 kill-death record, and he was named the event's most valuable player. He was not alone: Lotan "Spinx" Giladi posted a 1.35 rating with 46 kills, Adrian "xelex" Vincze a 1.33 rating, Oldrich "PR" Novy a 1.28 rating and Adam "torzsi" Torzsas a 1.23 rating, a spread that underlines how complete the MOUZ performance was. Nobody on The MongolZ finished the series above a 1.13 rating, with Sodbayar "Techno" Munkhbold their best player. The numbers tell the story of a rebuild that has come good. When MOUZ benched Ludvig "Brollan" Brolin and Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo on 18 April and handed xertioN the in-game leadership, the team fell to 11th in the Valve Regional Standings in early May. By 2 November they were first, 38 points ahead of Vitality. Coach Dennis "sycrone" Nielsen summed up the feeling on stage after the win: "If anyone worked for it and deserved it, it's us."

What Beijing changes before Singapore

The rewards go beyond the trophy. MOUZ take $125,000 in prize money plus a $235,000 club reward from the $1,250,000 prize pool, a total of $360,000, while The MongolZ collect $50,000 plus a $160,000 club reward as runners-up. The title also counts towards ESL Grand Slam VII and its $1,000,000 bonus. There is little time to celebrate, however, because the PGL Major Singapore runs from 24 November to 13 December, and both finalists are already looking ahead. MOUZ topped the Valve Regional Standings that decided the invites, earning a direct place in Stage 3 on 2 December, while The MongolZ, Asia's highest-ranked side, start a round earlier in Stage 2 on 28 November. Earlier on Sunday, NAVI took third place at the event by beating BetBoom 2-0 in the third-place decider, winning Mirage 13-6 and Ancient 13-9. For MOUZ, though, Beijing was about more than prize money or seeding. A team that had struggled to close out grand finals finally did so in the most convincing way possible, without dropping a map, and they will arrive in Singapore as the form team in Counter-Strike 2.