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GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
Never done before, likely never done again.
Stage 1 of the Major is over and, boy, did the final game NOT disappoint.
We’ve got all the action from stage 1 in this edition as well as an interview from Cologne, and a transfer round up that sees a legend depart his org after 12 long years with them.
Stage 1 of the IEM Cologne Major hasn’t necessarily had the greatest CS, the most tactically-sound CS, or the most beautiful CS to watch, but it was definitely the most… entertaining CS we’ve witnessed.
From illegal jumpshots to crazy comebacks, with one too many derbys mixed in as well, the opening salvo of the Cathedral Major had it all.
0-3
SINNERS had the most disappointing exit of the Major so far. Even we had decent hopes for them, and yet with losses to FlyQuest, NRG, and TYLOO, the EU-mix saw their sticker stocks soar about as high as their plane back home would.
Gaimin Gladiators just came in to say hi, play some of the worst CS imaginable, and leave again. Aight.
1-3 and 2-3
THUNDER dOWNUNDER had a pretty okay start, winning their opening Bo1 against MIBR and giving B8 some work on Dust 2, only to then shit the bed against BIG and lose the Aussie showdown to FlyQuest, both in and out of the server.
Sharks had koala tootin’ and hollerin’ against his opponents, which didn’t stop them from going all the way down to elimination following their win against a bleak Heroic on day one.
Speaking of a bleak Heroic, those guys really need to fix their roles because they looked so lost in all their matches, except of course against GG-go-next-merchants Gaimin.
Lynn Vision, Liquid, and NRG all made it to the last day but failed at the final hurdle, with the first losing the Asian derby to TYLOO, the second choosing to float their opponents best map in the veto, and the last proving the NA choke meme is definitely still alive.
3-1 and 3-2
The aforementioned opponents above obviously did the opposite of what we just wrote and moved on to Stage 2, with a special mention for BIG - but more on that comeback further down.
Honestly, we commend GamerLegion for keeping their heads cool and only falling to an unstoppable Boombl4 who doesn’t care what four teammates he has.
MIBR had some first day jitters but looked convincing overall and really made us think why G2 would ever want to let kl1m go.
Meanwhile, the last remaining hope for NA fans and bonus team for German fans M80 had a convincing showing, only falling to the strong B8 in their 2-0 matchup.
3-0
BetBoom and B8. Three B’s and a B shaped number, but straight A’s for these guys as they move on undefeated and look to shake things up in Stage 2.
NRG sh-tting the bed is nothing to be surprised about, but that doesn’t mean BIG don’t deserve their plaudits for an unreal comeback from 0-12 down to secure Stage 2 qualification.
Home crowd heroes are always easy to root for, though there’s something a tad more special about this BIG team.
They’ve worked their socks off to be present at the Cologne Major and we wouldn’t be surprised if that German efficiency helps them remain strong against fellow tier two team Monte (1.91) in their opening stage 2 match.
If you feel like backing BIG (1.81) to make a positive first step towards their stage 3 dreams, sign-up to Razed and play now.
Note: Odds at time of writing.
Honestly, we were starting to think we’d never see the day KRIMZ wasn’t in a fnatic-jersey. But here we are.
The veteran finally called it quits on the black and orange about twelve years after joining in 2014, and after ten years of consecutive play with the team. It’s the second longest consecutive stint in a single team, just 28 days shorter than rain’s time in FaZe.
For us, we’re not quite ready to quit the black and orange just yet. We’ll keep cranking hog for as long as there are hogs to be cranked.
The world looked very different when KRIMZ first put on a fnatic-jersey. Barack Obama was still the US president, there were only six Star Wars movies - to some this is still the case - and only two official CS Majors had taken place. For reference, this is being written while the twenty-fourth is ongoing…
In fact, a contributor to this very newsletter was only nine years old at the time, and there are top level CS pros that were even younger than that. Like MaiL09, for example.
Then, barely sentient at five years old. Now, center of one of the most controversial transfer sagas in Swedish CS history.
Sources to Fragbite revealed on Thursday that the seventeen-year-old phenom will not be staying in Alliance for the next season, as the team has been unable to agree with Metizport on a buy-out.
Considering the success the team has had with Liam - who has posted the highest average HLTV rating of any Swedish player in 2026 - this is sad news to many. Metizport seem fully intent on wasting his talent rotting on a bench in a jail cell.
In his stead, Alliance have looked towards Eyeballers and are close to getting a signature from bobeksde to replace MaiL09. We kind of dig the move, having seen how insane the Bob can be when it really matters.
On the topic of mismanaged loan players, G2 have finally seen the true value of kl1m. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean they see how good he is, but how much money they can make from him.
HLTV reported on Wednesday that the organisation are open to offers for the Russian superstar, currently on a blinder in the Major, his final tournament before his loan to MIBR runs out. Despite that, he is not an option for G2’s main squad, which has us fuming.
How SunPayus still has a job has bewildered many for years at this point, but even when an AWPer like kl1m is right under G2’s noses, for free, G2 can’t pull the trigger. It’s a joke.
Anyway, we have the fix. bobeksde to Alliance, kl1m to Eyeballers, and KRIMZ to MIBR for another ten years. Deal?
Jack is a busy boy this week, which means Quacke joins Sam to experience the misery of this week’s Counter-Strike news stories. There’s been a healthy dose of cheating allegations, TO bankruptcy, and worst of all, Liquid roster rumours.
After being 12-0 down against NRG in the 2-2 poule of Stage 1 of the Major, BIG managed one of (if not the) greatest comeback in a Major ever, winning 16 rounds in a row to defeat the NA team, book their spot for Stage 2, and keep their dream of playing in front of the German crowd alive. We spoke with JDC after the nailbiter to talk about their mental resilience, the next stage, and their road to the Major.
Pffft… What a game! Can you talk us through the last map a little bit?
To be fair, I don’t think we were necessarily playing bad on T-side, even though we didn’t get a round. They just had insane momentum, they were playing with f-cking balls and we were just kind of lacking reactions a little bit. I don’t know, I cannot even explain it. After the half we just said “okay we need to focus on mentally resetting and play round for round.” We have very good CT sides. I would say we are good on [Mirage], even though the score didn’t show that. I don’t know if they went inside themselves and just reset in three minutes, but we reached a flowstate after that that I have not seen in a while and it seemed like everything was just working, you know? I don’t think [NRG] necessarily played bad but things were just turning in our favour. I’m just very grateful, honestly.
For us watching at some point it just felt like the comeback was written in the stars, at what scoreline did you start thinking “maybe we can actually do this?”
To be fair I started believing at 12-6, 12-7 because I noticed we were playing exactly like in practice, we were in an incredible flow, we were not scared to make moves even though we were down. For example faveN was one of the guys making a round, where he double-kills in under while he was pushing B. I think it was actually the first gun-round we actually win. For me it was just a sign that we had nothing to lose anymore and we actually went with it, and it was truly amazing.
You had a very long road to Stage 2, I can imagine the Lanxess is in the back of your head now and you feel like you can do anything, but of course there’s still Stage 2 and 3. How are you preparing for that and working out these small details and mistakes that are still showing up?
I think this is a good reality check, just to see where we are at. We played a bit crumbly in many situations, which is normally not what we do in practice. We have to talk about why that is. it might be nerves, it might be not remembering the strat, or whatever it could be. I think it’s just going to go up from here, and I also believe we are not at our potential at all. We are playing at 60-70% in most games, making what I would call silly mistakes - me included - that we normally don’t make. Right now it’s just about finding our groove, and this probably helped a lot to get the confidence up, to get the belief up, and to just see what we do wrong. We will rewatch the game for sure even though we won and just evaluate.
When you’re in this match and you lose the overtime on Nuke, you’re 12-0 behind on Mirage, I can imagine you think back to the start of Stage 1 and the lost match against Liquid for example and think “it feels so stupid to have been less sharp at the start of this stage…”
Those thoughts can come up for sure, but I think you need to be really good at throwing them out of the window. The past just doesn’t matter. I’m a guy that’s very harsh to himself a lot. I was thinking before today already that in the GamerLegion game I didn’t show up like I wanted to show up, so I want to do it better today. But those thoughts are normally unhealthy and not good, so I think none of us were thinking about that. Everyone was just looking at as just a new game and what happened yesterday doesn’t matter and we just need to play our game.
About this year, you guys have been on an incredible tier two grind. Do you think that paid off here in these tense moments?
Oh for sure. I think the tier two/tier three scene is extremely underrated to some degree. The teams are very strong and very capable of beating good players and teams. Everyone said as well that we played very easy opponents until now, which statistically speaking is true because they are not at the rank that we should be and compared to the Major teams they are not that strong, but they still know how to play CS. They play with passion, they play full-time, they want to beat us really hard. It definitely gave us resilience and it hardened us a lot.
📺 Watch the full video interview.
Don’t worry, lads. The sh-t teams are gone now. It’s donk time.
After dog water teams such as THUNDER dOWNUNDER, SINNERS, and Gaimin Gladiators have been filtered out of the event it’s time for the big boys to get involved, with FUT, G2, Spirt, and Astralis all now set to join the action.
That’s without mentioning Legacy, too, who we feel may continue to write their own during this Major.
Starting with Spirit, they’re the current favourites to displace Vitality’s crown, and with news that S0tF1k will be remaining with the team, we’re starting to smell a second Major.
The aforementioned FUT will be dangerous, though. They’ve had a bit of a lull since their win at PGL Bucharest, but they’re too talented to keep down, and the BO1 format will almost certainly aid them.
Astralis and G2 also pose threats, but given that they both have problems to overcome, don’t count them out of being the big upset from this stage.
Rounding out the new arrivals are 9z, Monte, paiN, and Legacy. Whilst we don’t expect three of those to be a threat - and would even have them down as 0-3 candidates - Legacy should be solid here, and could even make a push all the way to playoffs if recent form is anything to go off.
Of the advancing teams, we’re most excited to see GamerLegion, BIG, and BetBoom.
BetBoom looked phenomenal during Stage 1, but given that IGL Boombl4 was their highest-rated player and that s1ren could return to upset the established team, anything could happen for them in Stage 2.
As for GamerLegion and BIG, both teams took longer than they would’ve liked to advance, but with GamerLegion recently showing they can do it against the world’s best and BIG pulling off that sensational comeback against NRG, anything is possible.
It’s time for the Major to properly begin, and we’re f-cking ecstatic about it.
