On July 24, MongolZ secured a 2-1 win over Heroic in the round of 32 at BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 2, moving closer to the LAN finals in Malta.
The tournament offers a $1.15 million prize pool, attracting 32 teams battling through online qualifiers from July 21 to August 2 before shifting to the live event scheduled from July 30 to August 2.
MongolZ, a Mongolian squad that began in 2013, have steadily climbed the ranks, now boasting over $3.3 million in career earnings and maintaining a spot among the top 20 global Counter-Strike teams.
Their lineup includes in-game leader bLitz along with Techno, 910, tikuak, DarkMeister, and coach maaRaa supporting them.
Heroic, a well-established European organization, split the first two maps but ultimately fell in the third, allowing MongolZ to advance.
unlike the surge in crypto sponsorships seen in 2021 and 2022, this BLAST Bounty event and its participants show no blockchain-related partnerships, token integrations, or NFT promotions.
Back then, companies like FTX and Crypto.com heavily invested in esports branding before the crypto bear market and FTX’s collapse dried up sponsorship funds.
Despite this, the healthy size of the prize pool suggests competitive esports continues to thrive, even as blockchain brands face more scrutiny before re-entering sponsorship deals.
