NRG take down B8 in their opening game at IEM Kraków
NRG upset B8 in their opening match of Stage 1 at IEM Kraków. Both squads entered 2026 with different AWPers than they had at the end of 2025, but the rookie Mykhailo-Nazarii "segukawa" Bybel was no match for the experience of Josh "oSee" Ohm.
The series started rough on NRG's map pick of Dust II. They won the pistol and went up 2-1 before a slew of CT rounds put them down 3-9. Losing the T pistol all but sealed their fate as they couldn't find much more form in the second half, losing their pick 4-13 with all four rounds coming from clutches.
Going into B8's pick of Mirage, NRG won the first pistol again. This time, they fully capitalized on the early momentum, riding it all the way through a flawless 12-0 half. Though they lost the second pistol and conversion, they quickly closed out the map 13-2. oSee put on a clinic, ending the map with 104.9 ADR and a 2.12 rating.
The deciding map of Inferno started with NRG losing the pistol and conversion to start down 0-2 on their T-side. NRG had a great recovery, winning the next seven rounds in a row and ending the half up 9-3. After losing the second pistol and conversion, NRG couldn’t maintain the momentum, but kept B8 from getting any themselves with sporadic round wins. Despite a back-and-forth second half, NRG managed to close out the map 13-11 and the series 2-1.
oSee was NRG’s best player across all three maps and consistently had a significant impact, with 54 kills, 15 multikills, and a monstrous six clutches.
NRGB8| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
54 - 35 | +19 | 89.5 | 71.4% | 1.54 |
 Alexander 'br0' Bro |
36 - 42 | -6 | 82.6 | 75.0% | 1.17 |
| Nick 'nitr0' Cannella |
37 - 40 | -3 | 66.4 | 60.7% | 1.04 |
 Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
32 - 43 | -11 | 72.8 | 75.0% | 0.93 |
| Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott |
31 - 46 | -15 | 55.9 | 69.6% | 0.89 |
| B8 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dmytro 'esenthial' Tsvir |
45 - 35 | +10 | 84.1 | 78.6% | 1.21 |
| Andrii 'npl' Kukharskyi |
50 - 37 | +13 | 100.0 | 73.2% | 1.21 |
| Alexey 'alex666' Yarmoshchuk |
38 - 42 | -4 | 72.2 | 73.2% | 0.93 |
| Artem 'kensizor' Kapran |
38 - 41 | -3 | 69.0 | 76.8% | 0.90 |
| Mykhailo-Nazarii 'segukawa' Bybel |
35 - 35 | +0 | 61.5 | 69.6% | 0.90 |
NRG's next match will be tomorrow, January 29th, against the newly international Astralis for a spot in Stage 2.
