Monte, Legacy, B8 earn final Stage 3 berths at IEM Cologne

Field Level Media|published: Tue 9th June, 20:32 2026

YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year.

Monte, Legacy and B8 snatched the final three berths for Stage 3 by winning their do-or-die Round 5 matches to complete Stage 2 of the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major on Tuesday in Germany.

Monte swept paiN Gaming 2-0, Legacy did the same against TYLOO and B8 rallied to a 2-1 victory over BIG. The three losing sides were consequently eliminated.

Teams are competing for their share of the Counter-Strike 2 tournament's $1.25 million prize pool with the grand final scheduled for June 21. The champion receives $500,000.

Eight teams were seeded directly into Stage 3: Team Vitality, Natus Vincere, Team Falcons, The MongolZ, PARIVISION, Aurora Gaming, FURIA and MOUZ. They'll be joined by FUT Esports, Team Spirit, G2 Esports, BetBoom Team, 9z Team, Monte, Legacy and B8, all of whom advanced through Stage 2.

Using a Swiss System format, advancement and elimination matches in Stage 2 were best-of-three. All other Stage 2 matches were a single map.

On Tuesday, Monte defeated paiN 13-5 on Nuke and 13-11 on Dust II. Oscar "AZUWU" Bell of Great Britain paced Monte with 39 kills and a 1.53 match rating.

Legacy topped TYLOO 13-7 on Mirage and 13-4 on Inferno. Bruno ‘latto' Rebelatto of Brazil was the top performer for Legacy with 33 kills and a match rating of 1.57.

BIG opened with a 13-7 defeat of B8 on Ancient, but B8 rebounded and evened the match with a 13-6 result on Overpass. The final map was Dust II, where B8 took a 13-8 victory. Ukraine's Danylo "s1zzi" Vinnyk racked up 62 kills and a match rating of 1.49 to guide B8.

Stage 3 will begin Thursday with eight Round 1 matches:

--The MongolZ vs. B8

--PARIVISION vs. 9z Team

--Team Vitality vs. FUT Esports

--MOUZ vs. Legacy

--Team Falcons vs. G2 Esports

--FURIA vs. B8

--Natus Vincere vs. Team Spirit

--Aurora Gaming vs. Monte

Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major prize pool

1. $500,000

2. $170,000