PGL Astana is the next big stop in the Counter-Strike esports parade, and one of the first matches is a showdown between The MongolZ and Furia.
The BLAST Austin Major is on the horizon and that has teams shaking up their rosters. Furia is among them, with the team swapping out two players in hopes of getting a boost at the event. That makes PGL Astana a key staging ground for this new lineup.
But there are no easy outs in high-level Counter-Strike these days. The first match for this new Furia is a top-10 team in The MongolZ. So how should you approach betting on this one?
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The MongolZ and Furia will face off in a group stage match at PGL Astana. The match is set for May 10, 2025, and will be competed in a best-of-three format. Both teams will continue in the tournament regardless of the outcome, as advancement to the playoffs requires teams to win three of five group stage matches.
The MongolZ spent late 2024 and early 2025 posting solid placements in prominent tournaments, albeit without typically reaching first place. That streak was broken with a group stage flameout in PGL Bucharest, but the team rebounded strongly by taking third place in IEM Melbourne.
The longtime roster of The MongolZ will be looking for another solid result here:
The MongolZ is slightly below .500 on Anubis and Nuke, but is generally strong elsewhere with an even-or-better record. Its best maps, statistically speaking, are Ancient and Mirage, where the team has gone 10-6 to this point in 2025. The team is yet to play a match on Train.
Furia has been crashing out of tournaments consistently in 2025, with almost all its wins coming against North American squads or tier-three competition. That necessitated some roster changes before PGL Astana. The team benched both Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes and Felipe “skullz” Medeiros and brought in Danil “molodoy” Golubenko as a full-time team member and ex-Virtus.pro and Team Liquid star Mareks “YEKINDAR” GaÄĽinskis to round out the team through the BLAST Austin Major.
Here is the full Furia roster for PGL Astana:
To this point in 2025, Furia’s only winning map is Dust 2. The team is 8-6, which isn’t all that far from just being even. Its win rates elsewhere stand at 40% or less. Furia traditionally bans Ancient.
Furia and The MongolZ have played on a few occasions previously, but the only recent match came at PGL Bucharest 2025, where The MongolZ handed Furia an elimination from the tournament with a 2-0 score.
The MongolZ stands as a solid, but not extreme favorite over Furia. The moneylines stand at 1.37 against 3.06, which is quite complimentary toward Furia. The showdown is actually considered about as competitive as G2 Esports vs MIBR, which is an on-paper mismatch.
The MongolZ should be able to score a clean victory over Furia. The new Furia lineup may be an upgrade over the previous one, but even the most optimistic projection would still likely have the team falling short of a definitive top-10 squad like The MongolZ.
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