IEM Kraków 2026: Winners and losers

IEM Kraków 2026 has come to an end with Team Vitality adding another Tier 1 trophy to its ever-expanding collection.

ESL’s first Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) event of the season featured the top 24 teams from January’s Valve Regional Standings (VRS), setting the scene for a highly competitive event. IEM’s Kraków debut saw teams cement their legacy, with others hoping to rediscover form as attention turns towards the IEM Cologne Major. 

As the dust settles on another high-profile tournament, Esports Insider checks out the biggest winners and losers from IEM Kraków 2026.

The defending Major champion has continued dominating the international CS2 circuit, displaying incredible levels of consistency alongside surviving challenges that have faced the team. 

Kicking off the event with a bang, the team successfully navigated its way through the Group Stage and the semi-final without conceding a map. Moreover, Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut continued to cement his place as the world’s best CS2 player thanks to a scintillating performance in the Grand Final, frequently making an impact with the AWP in hand. 

Victory in Kraków is Team Vitality’s 10th Tier 1 victory in the past 12 months. After withstanding a defiant FURIA side that has been topping the VRS standings, there are no signs of the roster slowing down as it heads towards the next Major.

Ahead of the new season, Nikola ‘NiKo‘ Kovač stated that his Team Falcons side is capable of achieving a lot as it looks to build on a strong second half of 2025. Despite this confidence, the Saudi Arabian esports organisation found itself failing to qualify for another playoff. 

On several occasions, the team lacked the coordination required to compete at the highest level of Counter-Strike, squandering several scenarios where it had the numerical advantage over its opposition. An unexpected loss to Aurora Gaming saw the all-star roster have to claw its way through the Group Stage lower bracket before falling to MOUZ at the final hurdle.

Team Falcons doesn’t have to wait long to redeem itself from a disappointing Kraków campaign as it heads to Romania to compete at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026 from February 14th to 22nd.

Throughout 2025, Aurora Gaming showcased glimmers of brilliance in Tier 1 tournaments but often found itself missing out during the final stages. Victory at PGL Masters Bucharest 2025 proved a turning point for the all-Turkish roster, but a top-20 finish at the Budapest Major put a halt to any kind of momentum building.

In late 2025, Caner ‘soulfly’ Kesici joined the starting line-up, and the organisation has started to ramp up its performances, as highlighted at IEM Kraków. Aurora Gaming first secured victories over GamerLegion and paiN Gaming to advance to the Group Stage.

Riding this momentum, the roster provided another strong showing, taking down Team Falcons and MOUZ to book its place in the playoffs. 

While besting FURIA in the quarter-finals proved a step too far, the event showed that Aurora Gaming has the ingredients required to compete among the very best. 

After climbing to third in the global VRS following its BLAST Bounty Season 1 win, Parivision hoped to continue its hot start to 2026 with another strong showing in Kraków. 

In the Play Ins, wins over HEROIC and Aurora Gaming kept this momentum rolling. However, a hard-fought Group Stage defeat to NAVI sent Parivision down to the lower bracket. Narrow margins also played a part in Parivision’s 2-1 defeat to Astralis, knocking the team out of the tournament with a top-16 placement. 

Defeats to established names put the brakes on a promising start for a team continuing to develop and prove it belongs at the top of the Counter-Strike scene.

BC.Game’s attendance in Kraków caught the attention of many fans, mainly because Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev competed in his first Tier 1 tournament since the BLAST.tv Austin Major. After inheriting a place in the top 20 of the global standings, a strong showing offered the team an opportunity to earn valuable VRS points and face off against the very best in the world. 

S1mple showed his class from the outset, scoring a one-versus-four clutch against Legacy in the Play Ins to complete a 2-0 sweep. BC.Game’s Portuguese trio also made an impact, with strong showings against Ninjas in Pyjamas to secure a place in the Group Stage. A tantalising clash between s1mple and ZywOo saw BC.Game outclassed by a superior Team Vitality side, before FaZe Clan sent the team packing with a top-16 placement.

A top-16 finish at BC.Game’s first Tier 1 event is no mean feat. The two wins in the Play-Ins could prove valuable as the team continues to piece together its strategies as it hopes to grab a Cologne Major place. 

Legacy burst onto the Counter-Strike esports scene at the Austin Major after making a run to Stage 3 and scoring a surprise victory over Team Vitality. Since then, the Brazilian roster has cemented itself within the Tier 1 landscape with frequent appearances at high-profile events. 

The team looked to have BC.Game on the ropes, but crumbled in its opening best-of-three as its opponent rallied back to score a 2-0 sweep. Legacy struggled to bounce back against FUT Esports in the lower bracket, falling to another 2-0 defeat to bow out in the Play Ins without scoring a single map win. 

As a result of the disappointing performance, Lucas ‘lux’ Meneghini was moved to the bench in favour of Andrei ‘arT’ Piovezan. Ultimately, Legacy will now look to rediscover the form that cemented its place as one of South America’s forces to be reckoned with.