By Sagar V. Mankar 
The MongolZ claimed victory over HEROIC with a 3-1 win in the grand final of the Thunderpick World Championship on November 3 at Berlin’s LVL Dome Arena.
This impressive performance earned The MongolZ top prize of $500,000, while HEROIC secured a $150,000 prize from a $850,000 prize pool.
The grand final began with The MongolZ taking the first map, Dust II, with a solid 13-8 win. HEROIC quickly responded by dominating Ancient 13-6, evening the score at 1-1. The MongolZ, however, regained control on Anubis with a close 13-11 victory, which set the stage for a final showdown on Mirage. Here, The MongolZ overwhelmed HEROIC with a decisive 13-2 finish to clinch the best-of-five series.
Leading the charge for The MongolZ were Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren and Munkhbold “Senzu” Azbayar, both scoring 68 kills. bLitz’s performance stood out, earning him the MVP award with a match-best +18 kills-to-deaths differential, while Senzu followed closely with a +15 K-D. HEROIC’s top players, Guy “NertZ” Iluz from Israel and Rene “TeSeS” Madsen from Denmark, each recorded 63 kills and posted a +6 K-D to lead their team.
The event also featured a third-place match, in which 3DMAX rallied from an early setback to defeat OG 2-1. Thomas “Djoko” Pavoni was the star for 3DMAX, leading the all-French roster with 52 kills and a +6 K-D.
The Thunderpick World Championship kicked off on October 21, featuring 16 CS2 teams from Europe, North America, and South America. The tournament began with a double-elimination group stage, where teams competed in best-of-three series to secure spots in the playoffs. The playoffs followed a single-elimination format with best-of-three matches, leading up to the best-of-five grand final.
Both The MongolZ and HEROIC dominated their respective groups, B and C. The MongolZ defeated Cloud9 and Fnatic, while HEROIC overcame Legacy and Ninjas in Pyjamas to top their groups. In the semifinals, The MongolZ defeated 3DMAX, and HEROIC dispatched OG, setting the stage for an electrifying final between these two powerhouse teams.
Thunderpick World Championship Prize Pool:
$850,000 prize pool was distributed among the top 8 teams:
- The MongolZ – $500,000
- HEROIC – $150,000
- 3DMAX – $70,000
- OG – $50,000
- 5-8. BESTIA, Imperial Esports, Fnatic, BIG – $20,000 each
The tournament saw an average viewership of 41,861, with a total of 3.7 million hours watched over 88 hours of gameplay.
The highest viewership came during the group stage match between Team Falcons and Virtus.pro, which drew over 246,000 viewers. However, the grand final viewership was significantly lower, peaking at 65,000, according to esports charts.