IEM Beijing 2026 has reached its playoff stage after the conclusion of the Group Stage at the Bloomage Biotech Biohyalux ECM Arena, Beijing.
The final day of groups saw BetBoom and NAVI progress to the playoffs after wins against Liquid and Team Falcons. Falcons, a hugely popular roster Counter-Strike in China, collapsed against NAVI to miss out.
IEM Beijing 2026 Playoff Bracket
The IEM Beijing 2026 Playoffs are:
Quarter-Finals:
- Parivision vs NAVI
- FURIA vs BetBoom
Semi-Finals:
- The MongolZ vs QF1 Winner
- MOUZ vs QF2 Winner
How the IEM Beijing groups played out
FURIA arrived at IEM Beijing less than twelve hours before the tournament was set to start after winning PGL Masters Bucharest. FURIA IGL Gabriel ‘Fallen’ Toledo complained on social media about the lack of support from ESL, but all of those time pressures, lack of rest, and lack of support did not stop FURIA from advancing.
The Brazilian roster shook off a Map 1 collapse on Ancient against FaZe before defeating NAVI to make the playoffs. However, the fatigue seemed to catch up with FURIA in a scrappy battle with The MongolZ, which ended on a Map 3 of Dust 2 in the maximum number of rounds.
The MongolZ therefore advanced straight to the semis, with FURIA’s exhausted players punished with yet another series to play in the quarter-finals.
Falcons were sent to the Lower Bracket early by NAVI, recovering with messy wins against FaZe and Heroic. Now facing NAVI for the final spot in the playoffs, Falcons took a tight map one before completely capitulating on Inferno and Mirage 13-4, 13-3, to take a humiliating loss in front of a Beijing crowd that strongly supported the IEM Cologne 2026 Major champions.
MOUZ breezed through the Group Stage without dropping a single map against TYLOO, BetBoom, or Parivision. The MOUZ roster admittedly had a favorable draw, but with BetBoom taking scalps against serious opposition, MOUZ showed that their level was clearly above their group opposition.
MOUZ progressed to the Semi-Finals, leaving Aurora, BetBoom and Liquid in the Lower Bracket. Aurora had shown good form lately, but were demolished by BetBoom 2-0 in the Lower Bracket, before BB narrowly defeated Liquid in the Lower Bracket Final to guarantee yet another playoff berth for Kirill ‘Boombl4’ Mikhaylov’s boys.
One team that didn’t progress at all in this tournament was G2. G2 entered the season as solidly top eight in the world after making the IEM Cologne 2026 Major, but the signing of Artem ‘r1nkle’ Moroz has collapsed their floor, resulting in back-to-back last-place event exits.
9z, Legacy, and FaZe sit alongside G2 in those last-place slots. Legacy and 9z will lament similarly painful losses of form, but FaZe can take some positives from their brief return to Tier 1 after competitive 2-1 losses to FURIA and Falcons, in what was an extremely difficult draw.
Who will win IEM Beijing 2026? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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