Mauisnake on BELCHONOKK in PARIVISION: “He makes mistakes more often than others”
Analyst Alex “Mauisnake” Ellenberg, in a new episode of the Snake & Banter podcast, assessed the recent improvements in the gameplay of current MOUZ captain Dorian “xertioN” Berman, discussed why The MongolZ stopped training, and also criticized the performance of PARIVISION rifler Andrey “BELCHONOKK” Yasinsky at PGL Astana 2026.
About xertioN
xertioN’s improvement in his gameplay is reminiscent of what happened with electroNic when he became the IGL for Natus Vincere. Remember when he took on the captain’s role after a major tournament, and the team immediately won the BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2022? That, I believe, was his best event of the entire year. But later, his performance started to get worse and worse. I don’t know how often we see this trend for this role, but that’s exactly what it suggests for xertioN’s future. <...> So, all of this will have a negative long-term impact on MOUZ, but as for the short-term effect, I think xertioN is doing exactly what’s needed.
On The MongolZ’s performance at PGL Astana 2026
Admitting that you had zero practice before the tournament seems very strange to me. Especially before an event of such magnitude as PGL Astana. It was at this very championship that she was supposed to establish herself as a contender for the title. At first I thought: “Wow, that’s pretty plausible, because she won’t win the tournament anyway, but, as usual even with practice, she’ll make it to the playoffs and lose there to Team Spirit or Team Falcons and get eliminated.” But then she didn’t even make it to the playoffs, and I started thinking that the lack of practice was completely unfounded.
On BELCHONOKK’s play
Initially, BELCHONOKK received the least criticism from us, since he plays the support role without a lot of resources. But I’d say he makes mistakes more often than the others. He often died first in many rounds at this event. The team was positioned in a way that left only one flank open for the enemy to attack. BELCHONOKK was the one who was supposed to watch that corner, but he was looking in the direction that was already controlled by other players. And I thought, “Yeah, we probably need to kick him because this looks way too stupid.” This happened more than once at the event.
Earlier on the Snake & Banter podcast, analyst Jason “moses” O’Toole criticized MOUZ. In his opinion, the roster is so unstable that it could fall apart by the end of the upcoming IEM Cologne Major 2026. moses noted that in the face of real competition, this group would simply be destroyed, and the roster itself doesn’t look like a cohesive team at all.
