What To Expect From The IEM Cologne CS2 Major – Stage 3

The IEM Cologne Major is firmly underway, with stages 1 and 2 already over. There have been some insane comebacks, crazy performances, and a new, exciting coach making a debut. Today, we’re going to take a look at all the Stage 3 teams, so you can head into the next stage of the major well-informed.

Vitality

What is there to say about Vitality that hasn’t already been said a million times? Not to detract from the other teams in Stage 3, but it’s safe to say that a lot of people expect Vitality to further cement their era by taking the trophy in Cologne. They are, to put it simply, quite good at the game at the moment.

Dan “apEX” Madesclaire will doubtless have been cooking after Vitality’s IEM Atlanta run ended with a fifth-place finish, on the back of the team taking some well-earned time off. William “mezii” Merriman and Shahar “flameZ” Shushan will be heading into Cologne ready to reassert their roleplaying dominance. Robin “ropz” Kool has 170+ hours played in the last fortnight – a prospect which should horrify opponents. And Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut is…well, a prospect which should horrify opponents.

These guys are the big dogs, and every team will be faced with the internal psychological battle of both wanting to be the giant killers of Cologne and being terrified. Their opening matchup is against a very in-form FUT. It should be a banger. Personally, I’ve got Vitality 3:0 in my Pick’ems. Why be unique and different when you could just be correct?

NAVI

NAVI have been on a very good run of form, recently. They look like the big contenders to take down Vitality and claim the major for themselves. A first-place finish in IEM Atlanta (as well as second-place finishes in BLAST Rivals 2026 Season 1 and BLAST Open Rotterdam, and another first-place finish in ESL Pro League S23) will doubtless see Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and co. heading into Cologne brimming with confidence.

It might perhaps seem elementary to say, but if NAVI want to get through Stage 3 with momentum behind them, and head into the playoffs whilst maintaining their form, all players will need to turn up. This is a team with fantastic parts, but its strength is in being greater than the sum of them when the full five are on fire.

I have NAVI going through, but I haven’t put them as going flawless. To be honest, they could very well go undefeated in this stage, but I’m shamelessly trying to game the system for that elusive Diamond Coin.

Spirit

Spirit have come into Cologne in some crazy form. Everyone is playing well, but we have to talk about the elephant in the room. The member of the team most influential to their Stage 2 dominance. The new goat. The demon himself.

Jab Jabich.

Sorry, I had to. Talking seriously for a moment, Danil “donk” Kryshkovets has turned up at the major with a serious point to prove. He has been looking, in this event, like the best player in the world, bar none. Over the entire of Stage 2, donk landed a frankly astonishing 2.27 overall rating.

If Spirit continue this form, they’re very much in the running for champion contender status. They look, to put it simply, scary. I have Spirit going through. In this form, that much is an inevitability.

Falcons

Perhaps the most ‘storyline’ team of the major, Stage 3 plays host to the long-awaited return of Finn “karrigan” Andersen and Nikola “NiKo” Kovač together at a major. It is an exciting prospect, and one that seems destined to give us some special moments in the days to come.

Of course, as with any major in recent times, I am honour-bound to reference the fact that NiKo still hasn’t got his major. On the one hand, a Falcons with karrigan at the helm feels like NiKo’s best chance for years to lift the trophy. On the other hand, both karrigan and NiKo have struggled to pull the more important matches over the line for a while now.

Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin has been looking much stronger since the arrival of the legendary Danish IGL, and the prospect of an in-form Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov coming into Cologne is an exciting one.

Falcons, in my mind, seem either destined for glory or for heartbreak. If they do go out, I doubt they will go gentle into that good night. I have them going through, and I’m excited to watch this story unfold.

FURIA

FURIA have been looking rocky ever since Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo announced his retirement at the end of the year, back at IEM Rio 2026. Correlation is not causation, of course, but I’m sure FURIA will be heading into Cologne looking to steady the ship and get back to their top-class performances. It is, after all, the Professor’s penultimate major. It would be a shame for them to bow out in a lacklustre fashion.

FURIA’s opening matchup is against a battle-hardened B8. Perhaps, on paper, this should look like a fairly simple victory for the Brazilian org, but if they start slow, B8 are in the kind of form to punish them.

Aurora

Aurora are always a dangerous team, but they’re arriving at the major with some questions about their recent form attached. Their run at PGL Astana was underwhelming, with back-to-back losses to MOUZ, and a 2:0 loss to HEROIC in the mix. They finished in 8th place, and didn’t really look like they were contenders to go much further at any point.

Of course, with İsmailсan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş on the roster, there is always a level of lethality in the Turkish roster waiting to be unleashed at any given moment. I have Aurora going through, but it truly depends on what kind of Aurora shows up on day one, in my opinion.

MOUZ

MOUZ are coming into the IEM Cologne Major with a weird caveat. This is a dead team walking, as benched IGL Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin has been called back to play at the event, albeit with Milan “Xertion” Veeger calling. Academy prospect Adrian “xelex” Vincze has joined the team, and Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo was benched alongside Brollan and won’t be in attendance.

Personally, I believe in the dead team buff. I think MOUZ are going to have a decent enough run in this major, and I can see them getting out of Stage 3. Perhaps I’m an idiot. There’s only one way to find out.

Legacy

Legacy are looking pretty good at the moment, with solid wins over FlyQuest, M80, and TYLOO taking them through to Stage 3. Bruno “latto” Rebelatto in particular is having a great tournament, with a 1.24 rating over the course of the seven maps he’s played thus far in Cologne.

Legacy’s AWPer, Guilherme “saadzin” Pacheco, is putting up good numbers on his T Sides in Cologne, with a 1.18 rating over his T-side rounds in Cologne. The Brazilian side has proven themselves to be a dangerous contender – the only real question that remains is just how much damage they can do to the bigger names heading into this stage.

Personally, I don’t have them going past Stage 3 this time around, but I’d be glad to be proven wrong. It’s been a good run for Legacy, and one that I’d love to see continue.

The MongolZ

The MongolZ have been struggling to find the consistency they once exhibited since the departure of Azbayar “Senzu” Munkhbold. That’s not to say that they have been bad, per se, but they haven’t had that all-but-guaranteed deep run status that they once had.

On balance, their AWPer Usukhbayar “910” Banzragch has been their strongest player of late, with a 1.14 rating over the last three months, but one of the joys about The MongolZ is that any individual can turn up and take over a game on their own.

I have the MongolZ getting through Stage 3, as I have a strange feeling that this is the event in which they will rediscover their level.

PARIVISION

PARIVISION seem to be on a slight decline after their hot streak at the start of the year. Dzhami “Jame” Ali’s team have developed something of a habit of making small but crucial mistakes – something that is perhaps understandable considering the relative inexperience of the majority of the roster. In fact, PARIVISION’s coach Dastan “dastan” Aqbaev was quoted in this HLTV article as saying “Some levels of mistakes are unacceptable. We have the Major, I can’t kick them right now, but if they continue, yes”. Yikes.

PARIVISION’s first matchup in Stage 3 of the IEM Cologne Major is against 9z. No disrespect to an in-form 9z whatsoever, but this should be about as comfortable a matchup as Jame and co. are going to get. They will be hoping to start strong and work up some of that underdog momentum.

G2

G2 are looking pretty good in Cologne. A 13:8 victory against M80 led into a nail-biting 22:19 win over Monte. Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač and his squad tasted their first defeat in the major in a 1:2 loss to FUT, but bounced back quickly with a 2:0 victory against BIG and their Stage 3 berth secured.

G2’s first matchup in Stage 3 is a clash of the Kovač cousins. Falcons will be looking to start strong and get some momentum behind them, whilst G2 will be coming in buoyed by their Stage 2 success. Whichever way the opening game goes, it’ll be sure to be a banger.

FUT

FUT are looking very sharp right now. An undefeated run against B8, TYLOO, and G2 saw them get through Stage 2 without a scratch, and their signature aim-heavy, explosive style of Counter-Strike is clicking right when it matters most.

The question surrounding this lineup is one of depth and stamina. How far can they really push this level of form, on the biggest stage, against the biggest teams? Talking about the biggest teams, FUT have a pretty disgusting opening matchup. Will the on-form roster of aim demons be able to put an early dent in Vitality’s hopes of a clean Stage 3? Luckily, we won’t have to wait too long to find out…

9z

It’s probably fair to say that 9z are performing above expectations in Cologne, thus far. A 13:9 victory against FlyQuest straight into a brutal 13:5 decimation of Astralis gave the South American side a strong start. A 2:0 loss to a very strong Team Spirit followed, but Maximiliano “max” Gonzalez and his team bounced back with a clean 2:0 against TYLOO to secure their spot in Stage 3.

9z’s opening matchup is against PARIVISION. Nobody really knows what to expect from Jame’s side heading into the major, so 9z will be looking to kick off this stage with a strong performance.

Monte

Monte have been one of the most surprising standout teams of Stage 2, making it through a pretty brutal bracket. Jack “Gizmy” von Spreckelsen’s side has emerged from a tough stage with their heads held high. Monte’s Stage 2 started with a 13:8 win over BIG, before heading into a frustrating 19:22 loss to G2. A 13:11 victory over Legacy saw them regain momentum, only to lose it again in a 1:2 loss to BetBoom. In the final game of their stage, Monte put paiN to bed with a fairly comfortable 2:0. It is safe to say they will be heading into this stage of the major fully stress-tested.

Monte’s first matchup of Stage 3 is against Aurora. On paper, Aurora should be able to take the victory here, but with Monte’s current form, anything is possible. 

B8 & BetBoom

We have already discussed B8 and BetBoom in our earlier Stage 1 article, so we’re just going to briefly touch on them here. B8 have had quite the journey throughout the opening stages of Cologne. They started Stage 2 with back-to-back losses in the Best-of-Ones, losing 11:13 to FUT and 10:13 to M80, before making the reverse sweep happen with victories against GamerLegion, MIBR, and BIG to squeeze into Stage 3 at the death. 

In their game against BIG – the most high-pressure game of the tournament for them thus far – the standout performer was the 16-year-old AWPer Danylo “s1zzi” Vinnyk, with a 1.49 rating over the series, and fantastic performances on the last two maps.

BetBoom had a slightly easier run of things in Stage 2. Despite starting with an understandable 5:13 loss to donk – sorry, I meant Spirit – they comfortably dispatched of GamerLegion and M80, and were able to outlast a strong-looking Monte to head into Stage 3 with a minimum of fuss.