IEM Cologne Major 2026 Stage 1 Day 1: Recap

The opening day of the IEM Cologne Major 2026 has come to an end as the two opening round games of Stage 1 concluded with BetBoom beating Liquid in the final game of the day to move into the 2-0 bracket. It was a mixed day for the teams from the Asia-Pacific region with most of them sitting in the 1-1 bracket. TYLOO were the biggest surprises on the opening day and it wasn't the good surprise either as the Chinese team are facing elimination after back-to-back losses in the two BO1s they played on Day 1.

If you missed the action from the opening day of the IEM Cologne Major 2026, here's a quick look at the results.

Round 1

The Asia-Pacific teams kicked off the IEM Cologne Major 2026 as Lynn Vision and FlyQuest were in action in the two opening games. While Lynn Vision went down to M80, the Australian team, FlyQuest, picked up an overtime win over SINNERS to start their campaign. The other teams from the Asia-Pacific region were TYLOO and THUNDER dOWNUNDER and the latter who were expected to bomb out without a win in Stage 1 stunned MIBR in their opening game as THUNDER dOWUNDER picked up the first big upset of the Major. TYLOO meanwhile were outclassed by B8 in their opening game.

The other games of the opening round went as expected barring Sharks beating HEROIC 13-10 on Nuke and Liquid taking down BIG with the same score line on the same map. BetBoom and GamerLegion started with clean wins.

Here's a look at the results from Round 1 of IEM Cologne Major 2026 Stage 1:

• M80 13 - 8 Lynn Vision (Inferno)

• FlyQuest 16 - 14 SINNERS (Ancient)

• THUNDER dOWNUNDER 13 - 6 MIBR (Inferno)

• TYLOO 6 - 13 B8 (Mirage)

• Sharks 13 - 10 HEROIC (Nuke)

• NRG 10 - 13 GamerLegion (Inferno)

• BetBoom 13 - 4 Gaimin Gladiators (Dust2)

• Liquid 13 - 10 BIG (Nuke)

Round 2

The second round of games on the opening day kicked off with Lynn Vision up against HEROIC and it was a big comeback from the Chinese team to stun HEROIC 13-11 to put up their first win in Cologne. TYLOO, though, were unable to emulate their fellow countrymen, as they continued to struggle. TYLOO almost pulled off an incredible comeback against MIBR, but the Brazilians held on in overtime to drop TYLOO to the brink of elimination. THUNDER dOWNUNDER and FlyQuest joined Lynn Vision in the 1-1 as both Australian teams suffered narrow 11-13 losses to B8 and GamerLegion respectively.

The other games in the second round saw NRG ease past SINNERS, going 13-6 on Nuke, while M80 handed Sharks a 13-6 beating on Mirage. BIG ran through Gaimin Gladiators on Nuke, going nearly flawless with a 13-1 win while BetBoom saw off Team Liquid to join GamerLegion in the 2-0 bracket.

• Lynn Vision 13 - 11 HEROIC (Dust2)

• B8 13 - 11 THUNDER dOWNUNDER (Dust2)

• NRG 13 - 6 SINNERS (Nuke)

• TYLOO 14 - 16 MIBR (Nuke)

• FlyQuest 11 - 13 GamerLegion (Inferno)

• M80 13 - 6 Sharks (Mirage)

• BIG 13 - 1 Gaimin Gladiators (Nuke)

• BetBoom 13 - 9 Liquid (Dust2)

Standings at the IEM COLOGNE MAJOR 2026 STAGE 1 AT THE END OF DAY 1: