Drin ‘makazze’ Shaqiri produced a magnificent showcase of aim and calculated aggression as NAVI defeated The MongolZ in the ESL Pro League Season 23 quarter-finals.
The MongolZ played the match without their coach, Erdenedalai ‘maaRaa’ Bayanbat, who was unable to attend the event. The MongolZ coach will also miss BLAST Open Rotterdam.
makazze shines in NAVI victory
makazze lit the server alight, delivering a 1.87 HLTV-rated performance, dropping 43 kills across the two maps. The Kosovan delivered huge impact, securing four opening kills and four multi-kills on Ancient to put NAVI on the right footing on the map.
After winning their map pick only five times in the previous 15 contests in 2026, NAVI are moving more towards Ancient as their first pick, seemingly wishing to exploit makazze’s consistently high level of the map.
While it was not statistically the best, makazze’s Ancient once again showed growth for the young gun, as the rifler displayed stronger decision-making and controlled aggression in the 13-11 victory.
On Mirage, a map that has abandoned NAVI of late, NAVI completely countered The MongolZ’s tepid T-sides, with makazze once again starring as they raced to a 10-2 lead after their CT side.
makazze delivered a 23/6/2 KDA as NAVI demolished The MongolZ 13-4 in a clean victory for the international roster. Only new gun Anarbileg ‘cobrazera’ Uuganbayar showed promise as The MongolZ were quickly dispatched on Map 2.
NAVI will play the winner of FUT and MOUZ later in the day. FUT consists of four of makazze’s teammates in NAVI Junior. While the rest of the roster was sold to FUT, makazze was promoted to the main roster.
The MongolZ tactically struggle without maaRaa
Having to play BLAST without maaRaa will be a worry for The MongolZ fans after Friday’s display. While coaches only get to call three timeouts, six in total across the two teams per map, The MongolZ looked monofaceted in their approach against NAVI.
maaRaa’s absence seemed especially to affect Garidmagnai ‘bLitz’ Byambasuren as a caller. The Mongolians played quickly and pointedly on the T side, allowing NAVI to take information elsewhere and know where The MongolZ were.
The result was six T-sided rounds across two maps, with only The MongolZ’s innate explosive firepower allowing them to overcome the NAVI information advantage.
The lack of a coach will be a nice excuse for The MongolZ, but the players themselves bear the responsibility for never adjusting, never throwing in a slow round, never taking map control, and never cutting off NAVI rotations. Those adjustments and solutions will have to be found by the players and the players alone as next week’s BLAST Open looms.
Does NAVI have a chance of winning the tournament with MOUZ and Spirit still in the bracket? You can discuss that on Insider Gaming’s Discord!
To see the rest of the ESL Pro League Season 23 bracket, click here.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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