A Mongolian Esports Story

Mongolia isn’t necessarily where you might expect an esports story to begin. 

We’re a really proud country filled with tradition and known for many things—but gaming isn’t really one of them. That never really mattered to me though. For as long as I can remember, all I’ve really wanted to do was play video games. 

I actually grew up in a pretty large city, Ulaanbaatar, which is the country’s capital and home to more than a million people. It’s also really, really cold for a lot of the year—so indoor activities are pretty welcome.

˜Some of my best memories growing up involved hanging out with friends at the game center after school. We’d always only have two hours to play until we had to go home, but I just remember savoring every second of it. My whole day—my whole life really—revolved around those two hours I was playing games with my friends. So I’ve always had a really deep connection to video games. 

But PUBG MOBILE was different. 

I still remember the first time I watched one of my favorite streamers playing it and I quickly became obsessed. I’d never watched a game that was so exciting. I genuinely loved everything about it. 

I started following the professional scene, streaming every tournament I could and counting down the days until a mobile version would be released so I could play. As soon as PUBG MOBILE dropped I started squading up with three of my classmates basically every day. 

I definitely noticed my skill level was higher than normal the first three seasons, but it wasn’t until season four that I became confident I couldn’t dominate any server. I stopped looking up to the streamers I idolized and started feeling I was at their level… I just needed a chance to prove myself. 

My family had trouble understanding what I was working towards. To them, I was just a kid spending too much time on their phone. The idea that this was something I could make money doing one day sounded crazy. Honestly, maybe it was. I could have focused more on my studies and pursued a normal career—but video games were truly the only thing that really interested me. So my decision was between being not great at something less risky, or taking a chance by attempting to be the best in the world at the thing I loved doing most in the world. 

Honestly, it wasn’t such a hard decision actually. 

There was a big leap between playing the game on ranked from my bedroom versus actually competing in tournaments. 

It’s not just the level of play being higher, but also just the intense nerves and pressure. When your mind is partially focused on external things, it’s difficult to react to things in-game as fast as you need to. You fall in love with games—and get better at them—because at the core, you have a lot of fun playing them. I think that is really the challenge of being a pro: Letting yourself have fun despite the pressure so you play at your best.

One big adjustment for me was transitioning from playing PUBG MOBILE on an iPad to a phone (which was required to participate in competitive tournaments). It took time to alter all the muscle memory I’d already developed. My first LAN, with my old squad BB, we didn’t place high at all. All of us gradually improved until the org disbanded in 2019, which sadly happens frequently  in the business. Around then, I was contacted by the original founder of Zeus—now IHC—about joining their roster along with ICY. That was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. 

The roster came together pretty quickly. We were a team of Mongolian players playing for a Mongolian org, so there was a level of familiarity. The two things we did really well from the start was communication and respect. Communication is only really properly developed by practicing together a lot, to the extent that you know how your teammates play best and what you can do to put them in a position to do so. And then respect is really about not letting your frustrations in the game be taken out on one another. That’s how one bad game turns into a spiral of bad results. 

Even though we thought we were a strong team, none of us expected to even participate in the PMGC in 2020. We had to grind our way through several qualifying tournaments—each one with stronger competition—then had to beat out 15 other teams for the Wildcard slot. And even then, because of COVID, it wasn’t clear whether we’d even be able to travel to the event. We got really lucky being able to charter a special plane to get there, and honestly we were just really happy for the chance to compete. 

The first couple of days, we just didn’t play well at all. I think the pressure and the higher level competition—it threw our mental off. It wasn’t until the third day of the tournament that we finally relaxed and just started having fun. And then suddenly we started placing high in match after match. We were as surprised as anybody—even making jokes about what our payout would even be because none of us had really bothered to look at the prize pool. When we ended up finishing third at PMGC in 2020, that really changed my whole life. 

It wasn’t just the money—although yeah, that was nice—but what meant a lot to me was the true confirmation that I really could do this at the highest level. And I think the coolest part was my family finally got to see and really understand what I was doing on my phone all those years.

After that tournament, they became my biggest supporters. When I was down about poor results, they’d cheer me up. When I was happy about good results, they’d push me to strive for even better. I think like with a lot of esports, it was one of those things where you really have to watch it and experience it to sort of understand how much it means to us. I mean, even my grandparents started loving PUBG MOBILE. 

Going into PMGC 2023, our mentality was so different than in 2020. We didn’t feel lucky to be there anymore. The foundation of our team has always been playing for kills, but now we had an even better feel for how to position ourselves to maximize that. In addition, we felt like the change to a 10 point system gave us a chance to win it all.

We weren’t surprised that it all ultimately came down to a teamfight against Alpha7—they’re a really good squad. But that’s also why we were prepared for them. We knew their tendencies and kept our composure in the moment to execute our scheme. As soon as we won that fight, our confidence exploded. 

The moment we defeated Stalwart and it was official that we actually had won, I don’t even remember feeling happy. I was just numb, I guess sort of in shock. To win this type of tournament on such a big stage and to do it with a group of teammates that feel more like family, it was almost like it was too much happiness at once to process. I was just really proud of us and myself. To go from a kid from Ulaanbaatar sneaking his iPad in his room to play more PUBG MOBILE, to leading the PMGC in eliminations—it still seems impossible.

If you’re an amateur PUBG MOBILE player out there hoping to climb the ladder and even play in PMGC one day, the only way to get there is through patience and grinding. Find a squad you respect and truly enjoy the company of. Play together until you move like one person. All the joy and suffering that comes with this pursuit—don’t take it on alone, share it with your teammates. 

It’s a really challenging journey, but it’s been the greatest one of my life. 

And if one day—after the disappointment, and victories and grinding—you do make it to the highest level… you better look out for me.