Three teams pull off comebacks in IEM Krakow openers

Field Level Media|published: Thu 29th January, 04:02 2026

A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home. Jordan Woodruff

G2 Esports, 3DMAX and NRG rallied for wins on Wednesday as the Intel Extreme Masters Krakow event got underway in Poland.

The $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began with 24 teams -- 16 competing in a double-elimination play-in bracket with eight already seeded straight into the group stage.

Play-in matches are best-of-three, with eight teams advancing.

The next stage will split the remaining teams into two groups of eight for double-elimination play involving best-of-three matches. The group winners earn spots in the playoff semifinals, the group runners-up head to the playoff quarterfinals as high seeds and the third-place teams go to the playoff quarterfinals as low seeds.

The playoffs will feature a single-elimination bracket of best-of-three matches with the exception of the grand final on Feb. 8, which will be best-of-five.

The championship team will receive $400,000, and the runner-up will get $180,000.

On Wednesday, Passion UA opened with a 13-8 win on Overpass before G2 Esports captured Dust II 13-6 and Mirage 13-3. Slovakia's Matus "MATYS" Simko paced G2 Esports with 43 kills and a 1.42 rating. The United States' Michael "Grim" Wince led Passion UA with 45 kills and a 1.16 rating.

The day's tightest match saw FUT Esports begin with a 16-13 overtime win against 3DMAX on Ancient. 3DMAX responded with a 16-13 overtime victory on Anubis, then sealed the series with a 13-5 triumph on Dust II. Pierre "Ex3rcice" Bulinge topped all-French 3DMAX with 59 kills, while Kosovo's Aulon "Krabeni" Fazlija and Ukraine's Nikita "cmtry" Samolotov each had 55 kills for FUT Esports.

After B8 claimed Dust II 13-4, NRG took Mirage 13-2 and Inferno 13-11. The United States' Josh "oSee" Ohm registered 54 kills and a 1.54 rating for NRG. Andrii "npl" Kukharskyi produced 50 kills and a 1.21 rating for all-Ukrainian B8.

In the day's other opening-round matches, Aurora Gaming swept GamerLegion 2-0, PARIVISION edged HEROIC 2-1, Team Liquid downed Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0, BC.Game Esports beat Legacy 2-0, and Astralis toppled paiN Gaming 2-0.

The upcoming schedule:

Thursday

--Upper-bracket round 2: Aurora Gaming vs. PARIVISON

--Upper-bracket round 2: Team Liquid vs. G2 Esports

--Lower-bracket round 1: Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Passion UA

--Lower-bracket round 1: Legacy vs. FUT Esports

--Lower-bracket round 1: paiN Gaming vs. B8

Friday

--Upper-bracket round 2: BC.Game Esports vs. 3DMAX

--Upper-bracket round 2: Astralis vs. NRG

--Lower-bracket round 1: GamerLegion vs. HEROIC

--Lower-bracket round 2: four matches TBD