It took a trip to the other side of the world, but NAVI have finally started living up to their name.

At IEM Beijing 2026, B1ad3’s boys finally did what their jerseys say they were born to do for the first time in a good while. The headlines will probably go to Falcons sh-tting the bed once again, but NAVI were the feel-good story of the group stage. They beat them twice en route to the Playoffs, thanks to disguntingly good performances from b1t and the second coming of prime s1mple. Welcome back lads.

MOUZ and The MongolZ were the other positives of the event so far. MOUZ’s undefeated run to the semis isn’t much of a surprise, given how tame Group B turned out to be. Same can’t be said for the Mongolians, who stormed through a stacked Group A with a FURIA-shaped cherry on top.

Now, Falcons… where do we even start?

Another early exit means there’s no denying that this season has been a disaster, and that Cologne is drifting dangerously close to fluke territory. At the eye of the storm is none other than karrigan, whose dogsh-t performances have somehow gotten even worse. Keep reading if you wanna find out what’s actually wrong with that lot.

Speaking of puppy poo, welcome to your biweekly dose of r1nkle hate.

G2 still haven’t managed to iron his ass out, and losses to PARIVISION and Aurora have only pushed them deeper into the mud. In case it wasn’t already obvious four months ago, it’s painfully clear now that he’s not Tier 1 material. If only G2 had one of the brightest AWP prospects in the world sitting on their bench…

Watching Legacy and 9z finally taught us what our moms have known for years every time they look at us: some things just never stop disappointing you. Not long ago, Legacy looked like they were onto something. Now, who the f-ck even knows what’s going on over there. As for 9z, they’ve hit rock bottom after an elimination loss to TYLOO made it seven straight. You know it’s dire when you can’t take a single map off TYLOO.

At least FaZe look like they’re on the right track… right?