Tengis “sk0R” Batjargal, the standout player of IHC, the top Asian squad in CS:GO right now, said goodbye today. The all-Mongolian roster has been moving up the world rankings this year after defeating higher-ranked teams at IEM Katowice in February, including FURIA and Cloud9. Sodbayar “Techno4K” Munkhbold, Baatarkhuu “Bart4k” Batbold, Sk0R, Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasure, and Tuvshintugs “ANNIHILATION” Nyamdorj recently competed in the ESL Pro League season 17, but was unable to advance to the playoffs due to losses against Outsiders, MIBR, and Fnatic. Uncertainty surrounds whether the outcome resulted in the expulsion of sk0R prior to the start of the Asian RMR in April, which offers two berths in the BLAST Paris Major.
Sk0R played a great part in IHC’s upsets at IEM Katowice. He was their highest-rated player during the Play-In stage in which they eliminated FURIA with a 1.11 rating, according to HLTV. Sk0r was also IHC’s highest-rated player at the group stage of IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League season 17 group A, but the Mongolian team struggled against their opponents.
With the removal of sk0R, it’s unclear what IHC will do next. The Mongolian team has Bat-Enkh “kabal” Batbayar sitting on the bench but he is supposed to be out during the first six months of 2023 due to paternity leave. The pool of professional CS:GO players isn’t big in Mongolia, which could spell trouble for IHC, especially because the organization has to find a player that constantly gets frags during matches as sk0r can.
If kabal is staying on the bench for now, IHC’s alternative is to try poaching one of NKT’s Mongolian players—Erdenetsogt “erkaSt” Gantulga, Yesuntumur “nin9” Gantulga, or Azbayar “Senzu” Munkhbold.
The Asian RMR will be played from April 6 to 9 and IHC will fight against Grayhound Gaming, TYLOO, Rare Atom, Invictus Gaming, Eruption, VERTEX, and Twisted Minds for one of the two BLAST Paris Major spots.
Update March 6 7:37am CT: Sk0R said on an Instagram story that it wasn’t his decision to leave IHC.