Techno on cobrazera: "He's already considered the best player on our team"
No one knew what to expect from The MongolZ in 2026.
Coming into the year with a fresh face in cobrazera after controlez impressed during his stand-in period, expectations were not set by the wider community, but if they had been, it’s likely the Monglian team would have already exceeded them with their numerous playoff appearances.
At BLAST Open Rotterdam, we sat down with Techno to discuss the introduction of cobrazera, playing without maaRaa, and The MongolZ’ goals now they’ve re-established themselves as a playoffs contender.
“We want to win as many tournaments as we can, at least three or four this year”
How have you been finding the start of the year with cobrazera joining? The old team with Senzu was together for a long time.
It feels great. He's a good player and a big prodigy, he's already considered the best player on our team. We were all friends beforehand, too, so we knew him already.
Is he a big enough voice in the team, or does he need to get more confident in that sense?
I think he's confident; he's a very confident guy. He just needs some time, because he's not fully into the good, tier one CS yet.
Is it hard to make the step up to tier one international CS when you're coming from playing primarily in Asian CS?
It's something you need time with. Your opponents, the tactics, the strategy, it can be really weird when you first switch, and you can die really easily.
You didn't have maaRaa with your for this event, what's that been like?
It's interesting for us; we've never played without him before, but in these two tournaments, he hasn't been here. We're really having to focus on our own game and do everything on our own, and maybe that's been an advantage for us, because everyone is taking their ideas and just doing them instantly in-game. It's definitely better with the coach, though, but it is a new challenge.
When you say you have to play for yourselves and rely on your own intuition, do you think that shows how good a job maaRaa has done that you can still perform without him?
Yeah, definitely. He built the system with bLitz, and that system is still clearly being played.
You didn't call any timeouts in the run-up to the playoffs. Is there any reason for it?
We realised we don't want to let their coach talk, and if we take a timeout, their coach will get to. Maybe they will change their strategy because of that, and we don't want that.
Was there any point you felt like you needed a timeout?
Not really in those matches, but sometimes you just need it after some tough rounds to relax for a minute.
Now that you're back reaching the playoffs consistently, what are the goals for the rest of the year?
We want to win as many tournaments as we can, at least three or four this year. Last year, we only won one, but we did come in as runners-up a few times. It's unlucky.
A few teams are struggling at the moment. Do you think this is a good opportunity to get on top? Where do you think you are right now in the world?
I think we're top five right now, but there's no exact placing in that top five. Anyone can beat any other team, so you have to rank them randomly. I prefer to play against that level, so maybe this is a good time for us, but I'd rather play the teams at their best.
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