IEM Krakow 2026 Stage One concludes as five more teams reach next stage

Stage One of IEM Krakow 2026 has come to an end, with eight teams officially punching their ticket to the next stage. Today, five teams locked in their spots, and it’s almost time for the true heavy hitters to enter the fray.

NRG keep NA’s hopes alive at IEM Krakow 2026

NRG‘s time at IEM Krakow 2026 isn’t quite over yet, as the team survived a back-and-forth best-of-three against Astralis to reach Stage Two. The heavily-criticized AWPer oSee came up clutch for NRG, with a +3.05% round swing to ensure they came out on top when it mattered. Also worthy of a mention is br0. The former Astralis man was determined to send his old team on a Lower Bracket run, and did everything he could to ensure they had to work for every single round.

The win keeps North American CS alive at IEM Krakow just a little longer. Stage Two will be a big step up, though, and this is where NRG have historically faltered.

BC.Game shut out the noise to survive another series

From the outside, this BC.Game roster had all the makings of a real disaster. That they found themselves in the Lower Bracket after losing comprehensively to 3DMAX didn’t help matters, but s1mple and co were able to quickly prove the haters wrong by bouncing back in a 2:0 win over a thoroughly unimpressive NIP.

Considering the noise surrounding this roster and how it is “doomed to failure,” BC.Game have done very well to block out the noise and lock in Stage Two. Now, the real test begins, as the big boys enter the fray at IEM Krakow 2026.

Aurora overcome setback to secure IEM Krakow Stage Two

Aurora have lived up to expectations by besting paiN in a rapid 2:0 to reach Stage Two of IEM Krakow 2026. A loss to PARIVISION yesterday proved inconsequential – they were simply too much for paiN, beating them without having to rely on their best map of Anubis.

A dominant showing from MAJ3R allowed Aurora to quickly take the lead in the series on Mirage, and XANTARES carried the torch into Overpass to ensure Aurora were through with very little fuss.

FUT dominate Liquid to show the kids are alright

Sometimes, youth trumps experience. FUT showed that with their win over Liquid, taking down the troubled team without losing a single map. It’s becoming quite apparent that this FUT team have an extremely high ceiling, with talents like dziugss and dem0n consistently showing why they’re so highly-rated right now.

Ancient was a total mess for Liquid, and Nuke, while they got nine rounds, wasn’t much better. It’s another very disappointing result for Liquid, even with Krimbo standing in for NAF. While FUT move on to bigger and better things at IEM Krakow, you have to wonder if something’s got to give for the future of this Liquid team.

Astralis international gamble pays off as they head to Stage Two

Astralis locked in their Stage Two place, a successful second outing for the newly-constructed international roster. Both ryu and phzy were undoubtedly a significant risk, but it looks to have paid off so far. Although they lost their first match of the day against NRG, they had another immediate opportunity against a struggling GamerLegion. They were not about to waste that chance, restricting GamerLegion to just seven rounds across two maps in the series.

Another concerning showing from PR was damning for GamerLegion, while Astralis‘ international imports thrived on the other side of the server. Can Astralis go too much further at IEM Krakow 2026? I’m not sure. But this certainly looks a whole lot better than the direction they were headed.