G2, Parivision, and 3DMAX advance to Stage 2 of IEM Kraków

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 30/01/2026

Friday will decide the final five spots in Stage 2 of IEM Kraków after G2, Parivision and 3DMAX advanced to the top 16 at the event.

The event is G2’s first showing in 2026 after the organisation decided to skip BLAST Bounty.

Positive signs for Liquid despite G2 defeat

G2 advanced after an agonisingly close series against Liquid. Liquid, largely a bedraggled roster in 2025, showed signs of progress even in defeat.

G2 comfortably won Mirage behind the one-two punch of seasoned IGL Nemanja ‘huNter-‘ Kovač and Nikita ‘HeavyGod’ Martynenko.

However, Liquid dismantled G2 on Inferno, a historically strong map for the G2 roster, completely shutting down G2’s T half in a 13-6 win.

The decider on Anubis was an agonising battle, with G2 taking a 9-3 lead after their T-side.

Liquid fought back to eventually lead by 12-11, with a chance of converting the series on the favoured T-side.

However, it wasn’t to be as G2 retook the B bombsite on the final round of normal time. G2 went on to convert the map 16-14, giving them a place in Stage 2 of IEM Kraków.

While it was a painful way to lose, running G2 close with stand-in Karim ‘Krimbo’ Moussa is a positive sign for Liquid, as Roland ‘ultimate’ Tomkowiak delivered a rare positive performance.

Liquid will face the young ex-NaVi Junior roster, FUT, in their final chance to qualify for Stage 2 of the event.

For G2, they won’t want huNter- to be at the top of the scoreboard on many occasions this year; it is simply now how the team should function.

3DMAX shut down s1mple

3DMAX has become one of the most consistent teams in the world at shutting down lower-ranked teams, and their qualifying performance against BC.Game was no exception.

The Frenchmen rolled to a 13-3, 13-4 victory over Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev and Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov’s BC.Game.

In truth, they were helped by a BC.Game who looked lost at times on Overpass.

BC.Game managed only three T-side rounds on each map, despite the second map being the heavily T-sided Anubis.

The result was a simple tap-in for 3DMAX on their T-sides, which exemplified the distance BC.Game have to go to be competitive at this level.

BC.Game will face Ninjas in Pyjamas for a chance of qualification.

Aurora return to bad habits against Parivision

BLAST Bounty champions, Parivision, reached Stage 2 of IEM Kraków after a bizarre series in which they stomped Aurora 13-5 on Mirage and 13-4 on Dust 2.

Sandwiched between those victories was an Anubis in which Parivision themselves were roundly beaten, 13-5.

Parivision can quickly forget about Anubis after the victory, but Aurora will live with the consequences as they prepare for a decider match against paiN.

The roster collapsed again, looking flat and lacking belief despite a positive showing against GamerLegion in their opening match.

The propensity of the roster to regress to bad habits was noted by IGL, Engin ‘MAJ3R’ Küpeli, after the match, who shared the following on social media:

“Everything fall away so fast when we have good setup somewhere. We try really to fix things talking but the true is we are not playing very smartly at this moment, and people headshots us better”

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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