Spirit and Falcons top exhilarating series in Cologne QFs to ring in Counter-Strike's 27th birthday

Today the Counter-Strike series celebrated its 27th birthday, with our favorite game receiving an amazing gift in the form of two historic series in the IEM Cologne 2026 Major Quarterfinals. Today's Major action saw Spirit come out on top of an insane Bo3 against G2 with no less than five overtimes and a graffiti worthy moment, while Vitality v. Falcons also delivered as both teams' superstars put everything on the line to send Falcons to the semifinals!

The Spirit v. G2 series was one for the ages as G2 really impressed against Spirit after narrowly claiming a spot in playoffs over NAVI. The series started with G2 trailing 5-7 on their T-side on their map pick before the team came alive around a great showing from Álvaro "SunPayus" García. The Spanish AWPer combined his efforts with those of Guy "NertZ" Iluz and Nikita "HeavyGod" Martynenko to give G2 the 15% round swing their needed on their CT-side to take the map 13-9.

Moving onto Dust2, Spirit were unusually sluggish on their T-side despite a strong start from Danil "donk" Kryshkovets, with 14 kills in this first half only being enough to hold G2 to a 6-6 stalemate. This stalemate continued into the second half, as G2 were the first to find double digits while Spirit were the first to find match point on the map. In round 24 G2 shocked everyone by forcing OT with a TEC-9 round going the way of the international team thanks in no small part to a 2k from Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač. With a 2-0 in the cards and the momentum in their favor, G2 were unable to close it out, with Spirit rallying to take Dust2 16-14 and force us onto the third map that would prove to be iconic.

With the series tied, G2 started Mirage on their T-side keen to close the series out as fast as possible, with a great showing from Matúš "matys" Šimko powering the team to an 8-4 lead heading into the second half. This lead quickly evaporated as Spirit won their T-side pistol and the following three rounds before G2 shocked Spirit with four of the next five rounds to claim match point. With their Major lives on the line, Spirit put on a great display as they rallied back once again to find overtime, with a round 23 4k from Andrey "tN1R" Tatarinovich being a key factor in keeping Spirit alive against G2.

With Mirage heading into overtime, the final map of this series became a spectacle and a battle of endurance as both teams refused to give it up. The two teams were evenly matched as the game from one overtime, to two overtimes, to three, and then four with an insane 4k from magixx not even being enough to break the stalemate.

In the fourth overtime, two CT rounds from Spirit ended up finally being the key to success as unlike the previous overtimes, this set up Spirit to take two rounds on their T-side in a row to finally lock down the map 25-22 to advance to the semifinals!

The second series of the day also delivered in spades as the battle between Finn "karrigan" Andersen and Dan "apEX" Madesclaire's superstar squads went three maps. Anubis started With Falcons in the lead as they posted five on their CT-side before Vitality found their footing to win six rounds in a row with the first half going 6-6 after Falcons ended the half with their first round in some time. Moving onto their CT-side, Vitality won the pistol round and the following four rounds to be the first squad to find match point. The map was once again flipped on its head as Spirit won the next six in a row to take match point before routing a minor Vitality comeback to take the map 13-11.

Inferno started off in the same competitive fashion as Falcons won the first two rounds on their CT-side, Vitality won six of the next seven, and then Falcons won the final three to give us another 6-6 half. Falcons would work hard to close things out on their T-side, however a brilliant CT-side showing from Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut was the ticket for Vitality to finally push Falcons at an 11-11 scoreline to win the final two rounds of the half to win the map 13-11.

After two 13-11 maps, things got really insane on Dust2, although the start wouldn't have you believing that. In a break from the stalemate that had been the series up to this point Falcons were dominant on their starting T-side, with Maksim "kyousuke" Lukin having his best single-half performance of the series, providing eleven kills and an absolutely insane 19.62% round swing to set up an 8-4 half for Falcons. This put Vitality in a really unenviable position as they had little runway to work with in the second half. However they truly made the best, despite Falcons claiming an 11-8 lead early in the half, with great plays and heroics from Vitality closing the gap to a single round at an 11-10 scoreline.

However, Vitality's dreams of a three-peat began to fall apart towards the end of Dust2 as karrigan was surprisingly impactful in his role on cat as Falcons found a 12th round before a collapse from Vitality allowed Falcons to take the map 13-11 thus knocking out the reigning Major champions.

With today's insane action concluded, tomorrow will see the day start with Aurora v. FURIA at 09:45AM before Spirit take on Falcons at 01:00PM.