Aurora, Vitality, Falcons lock in playoffs berths in day 4 of IEM Cologne Major Stage Three
Three more playoff spots have been locked in at the IEM Cologne Major 2026 as Aurora, Vitality, and Falcons have advanced at the expense of 9z, BetBoom, and NAVI, respectively. Meanwhile, Monte, MOUZ, and Legacy's Major dreams have come to an end as all three teams faced the music as we rapidly approach playoffs at the first Major of 2026.
Aurora 2-0 9z 
Aurora were the first team to claim a spot in playoffs today off the back of a dominant win over 9z. The one-sided series saw Özgür "woxic" Eker and co. maul 9z 13-1 on Nuke before quickly wrapping up Dust2 with a 13-5 win. With 9z potentially going from a 2-0 record and a near win over Spirit to a 2-3 exit from the Major, the South American camp should be rightfully worried about missed opportunities over the past two rounds.
Aurora9z| Aurora |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caner 'soulfly' Kesici |
34 - 16 | +18 | 98.2 | 81.2% | 1.67 |
| Özgür 'woxic' Eker |
30 - 13 | +17 | 95.1 | 78.1% | 1.65 |
| Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş |
26 - 17 | +9 | 84.2 | 87.5% | 1.41 |
| Ali 'Wicadia' Haydar Yalçın |
25 - 12 | +13 | 80.9 | 78.1% | 1.25 |
| Engin 'MAJ3R' Küpeli |
17 - 16 | +1 | 71.7 | 81.2% | 1.06 |
| 9z |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez |
15 - 28 | -13 | 56.8 | 68.8% | 0.78 |
 Luciano 'luchov' Herrera |
20 - 27 | -7 | 55.6 | 40.6% | 0.77 |
 Matias 'HUASOPEEK' Ibañez Hernandez |
12 - 26 | -14 | 57.7 | 59.4% | 0.73 |
| Franco 'dgt' Garcia |
14 - 25 | -11 | 50.6 | 43.8% | 0.58 |
| Ignacio 'meyern' Meyer |
12 - 27 | -15 | 41.6 | 50.0% | 0.52 |
NAVI 1-2 Falcons
The day ended with Falcons narrowly claiming a spot in playoffs following a 2-1 win over Falcons. This is despite Falcons getting off to a great start on Dust2 with a 13-3 on the map as NAVI quickly answered back with a 13-7 win on Mirage, thus requiring the series to go Anubis where a double-overtime performance from René "TeSeS" Madsen won Falcons the day.
This is despite another stinker from Finn "karrigan" Andersen as the embattled IGL finished the series with just 31 kills and a terrible 0.66 rating. While it seems to be working for Falcons for the moment, as many have said karrigan could become a serious liability in playoffs.
Natus VincereFalcons| Natus Vincere |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mihai 'iM' Ivan |
57 - 55 | +2 | 92.4 | 71.8% | 1.08 |
 Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy |
46 - 49 | -3 | 71.5 | 64.8% | 1.04 |
| Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov |
52 - 46 | +6 | 69.7 | 71.8% | 0.98 |
 Drin 'makazze' Shaqiri |
44 - 52 | -8 | 67.5 | 67.6% | 0.95 |
 Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen |
23 - 42 | -19 | 52.1 | 66.2% | 0.78 |
| Falcons |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov |
57 - 36 | +21 | 73.7 | 83.1% | 1.33 |
 René 'TeSeS' Madsen |
48 - 44 | +4 | 73.1 | 76.1% | 1.29 |
 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač |
52 - 44 | +8 | 79.1 | 78.9% | 1.19 |
| Maksim 'kyousuke' Lukin |
56 - 45 | +11 | 90.8 | 80.3% | 1.16 |
| Finn 'karrigan' Andersen |
31 - 53 | -22 | 49.7 | 63.4% | 0.66 |
Here are all the results from day 4 at IEM Cologne Stage 3:
• Aurora 2-0 9z
• BetBoom 0-2 Vitality
• NAVI 1-2 Falcons
• 
The MongolZ 2-1 Monte
• MOUZ 1-2 FUT
• G2 2-0 Legacy 
And here are the final matchups of Stage Three of the IEM Cologne Major
2-2 pool
• 9z v. The MongolZ
• BetBoom v. FUT
• G2 v. NAVI
Matches start tomorrow at 08:00AM.
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