IHC entered the CS:GO scene with quite a bang in 2022, taking the Asian RMR at the PGL Major Antwerp and finishing the Challengers Stage with a 1-3. After that, the team appeared more than once at European Tier-1 and Tier-2 events. So what kind of team is this, and how does it remain competitive outside its region?
Where did IHC come from?
In the first year, Checkmate changed four players and won more than $10 thousand, playing only in Asian events.
In 2021, Checkmate was much more active, but they couldn't leave the home stage, despite showing good results. Before the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, the team ranked fourth in the Asian RMR rating. In addition, the team made five substitutions in 2021.
2022 was the most crucial year for Checkmate. The team won two local events and took second place in the third. And in parallel with these victories in Mongolia, the IHC organization, founded in December 2021, became more active. The club didn't have a CS:GO team and only looked closely at the scene.
The turning point for Checkmate players was winning the Asian open qualifier at RMR for PGL Major Antwerp 2022. A week later, the team became known as IHC.
The first composition of IHC:
What made IHC memorable?
After being signed by the organization, the Mongolian team was able to enter the international tournament. The team qualified for RMR even before signing and went to the event under the IHC tag. They easily defeated all regional rivals and qualified for the Challengers Stage PGL Major Antwerp 2022.
IHC was on the other level compared to other teams from Asia and Oceania. The team didn't lose a single card, and their average rating was 6.5, especially great performance were shown by the leaders bLitz and sk0R.
However, knowing the level of Asia and Oceania in CS:GO at that time, most fans put IHC at 0-3 in the Challengers Stage PGL Major Antwerp 2022. Moreover, the team couldn't even train appropriately in their native region.
We have never screamed at low ping. In Mongolia, we also played with European teams, but our ping was more than 100. So, therefore, when we are in Mongolia, we want to know European teams' styles and strategies.Bat-Enkh kabal Batbayar
However, IHC managed to surprise, finishing the event with 1-3 statistics, winning against Renegades. This is how the first international tournament for IHC ended, and on it, the team could declare itself as the best team in Asia, but could they continue the trend?
Not a coincidence but a stable tendency
The next major in Rio became the second chance to perform at an international tournament for IHC. And the Mongols again destroyed the Asian RMR without defeat. Moreover, the team again showed impressive statistics: the average team rating was 6.6.
At the Challengers Stage of IEM Rio Major 2022, IHC repeated the same path as at PGL Major Antwerp 2022, only this time, the Mongolian team bypassed the Brazilians from 00NATION.
Thus, IHC proved that PGL Major Antwerp was not an accident, and the team could consistently enter international tournaments.
Evolution
It would seem that IHC was abandoned until the next Major, but it wasn't the case here. IHC got into the Play-In IEM Katowice 2023 due to the Asian ranking of ESL, and most of the spectators expected a failure from the Mongolian team again, but the team managed to surprise fans.
In the main stage of IEM Katowice 2023, IHC struck hard again: the Mongols beat Cloud9 and eliminated the team from the tournament. At the same time, the Mongolian team made a shutout: IHC finished the match with a score of 2-0.
IEM Katowice 2023 - the first significant success of IHC on tier-1
Now IHC competes with the best teams in the world and can impose a struggle even on teams from the top 10. It's a shocking development in just a year.
IHC's success in numbers
The Mongolian team is successful not only in words but also in numbers. The team's development can be seen even in the number of prizes. In the first year of its existence, the Checkmate team won $10,453. In 2021, the Mongols earned $38,593.
At the beginning of 2022, the organization had yet to sign Checkmates, but they had already earned $26,454. And after the signing, the Mongolian team began to participate in larger events, which increased the prize money even more. As a result, the team earned $98,887 in 2022.
The total prize money for the entire existence of the bLitz's team was $147,933, which is an incredible amount for an Asian team locked in its region almost all the time.
Speaking of won tournaments, Checkmate and IHC won 7 local events. This once again indicates that now IHC is the strongest team in the Asian region.
What is the secret of IHC?
The secret of IHC's last season was straightforward: five strong individual players didn't leave chances to weaker teams. The Mongols were simply showing better performance, due to which they earned victories.
In IHC, even the captain shows good skills. BLitz is at the top of the table in almost every match. His average rating last month was 6.1, which is very good for the captain.
It is also impossible not to mention the excellent replacements that IHC makes. Last year, the Mongols signed Tuvshintugs Annihilation Nyamdorzh, who is now the team's best player. Annihilation is the team's best player, with a rating of 6.2.
However, this year the situation has changed. In the IHC matches, a structure can be traced, thanks to which the Mongols could defeat the strong shooters from FURIA and Cloud9, who were considered the favorites in those matches.
Being in a highly closed region, IHC has developed a unique style. As a result, the strategies of the Mongols look fresh while the team prepares for each match and each opponent separately, which leads to the following rounds:
Unlike other Asian teams, IHC plays much faster, so even European teams are caught off guard. The Mongolian team shows a unique performance, which earns victories.
IHC is a unique team. No team from Asia has ever shown anything like this on the international stage. At the same time, the star of Mongolia has not gone out but is only developing. In the future, the team will probably be able to beat the tier-2 teams from Europe and maybe even impose a fight against the best teams of the scene.
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