What to expect from M80 v. The MongolZ at BLAST Open Lisbon 2025

M80 go up against top-five team in the world, The MongolZ, in their opening match on March 20th at 12:00PM for BLAST Open Lisbon 2025. However, the action will not be taking place in Portugal right away. The double-elimination group stage will begin in Copenhagen, Denmark, before shifting to Lisbon for the playoffs.

M80 need to take their domestic form worldwide

M80 were last in action at the first stage of ESL Pro League Season 21. They started off hot with two victories over FlyQuest and paiN, before falling to SAW, 3DMAX, and FURIA to be eliminated in 2-3 fashion. Before their capitulation at Pro League, M80 were on a six-match winning streak in domestic play, but could not replicate that form internationally.

• Elias "s1n" Stein needs to win the IGL battle v. Garidmagnai "bLitz" Byambasuren. Both callers are decent fraggers, but s1n will need to show his IGL chops to beat The MongolZ

• M80 could steal a map from The MongolZ on Anubis. M80's most often-picked map is one of The MongolZ's weakest.

• When Mason "Lake" Sanderson plays well, M80 typically win. He needs to get activated for the North Americans.

The MongolZ haven't gotten over the hump - yet.

• The MongolZ are serial playoff attendees in 2025, but they have not secure a final berth as of yet. Their journey to end their playoff curse begins with M80.

• Munkhbold "Senzu" Azbayar is The MongolZ's X-factor. If he is able to get his trade frags, rounds will open up for the Mongolians.

• The MongolZ will need to win their map pick. Many of their strong maps are good maps for M80 as well.

Previous matches

These teams have met just once before - at the Esports World Cup in 2024. The MongolZ beat M80 13-8.

Likely vetoes

• M80 ban Nuke (it's their perma-ban)

• The MongolZ ban Train (it's their most often banned map)

• M80 pick Anubis (it's their most often picked map)

• The MongolZ pick Mirage (it's their most often picked map)

• M80 ban Inferno (it's a strong map for both teams but not M80's strongest)

• The MongolZ ban Dust2 (see above but for The MongolZ)

• Ancient is left over (it's each side's strongest map in the pool aside from both teams' picks)