Legacy upset IEM Cologne 2026 Major winners, Team Falcons, to progress to the semi-finals of the Esports World Cup 2026 Counter-Strike tournament.
The loss for Falcons means they will have to wait to guarantee the EWC Club Championship and the $7,000,000 that comes with first place.
Legacy stun Falcons with perfect Mirage CT side
After a somewhat slow start, Falcons seemed to have taken control of the opening map of Mirage, winning seven of eight rounds in the middle of their CT-side on the map.
A 1v2 from Legacy IGL Andrei ‘arT’ Piovezan kept them within arm’s reach of the IEM Cologne 2026 Major champions, but it was truly the CT-side that saw Legacy take control.
While arT targeted Kinn ‘karrigan’ Anderson on Legacy’s T-side, Falcons were unable to find a crack in the Legacy defenses as a pistol loss led to a well-equipped CT-side with a strong economy backing the Legacy charge.
Bruno ‘latto’ Rebelatto and the restored Vinicius ‘n1ssim’ Pereira provided an impenetrable wall for Legacy’s defenses as they did not drop a round to convert the map 13-7.
Falcons punished for flat Dust 2
Coming into the second map, there was no great panic for Falcons, who had made Dust 2 theirs in recent times.
The Major champions quickly recovered from the lost pistol round to break Legacy with the force buy, providing a basis for success.
However, the issues came again with Santino ‘try’ Rigal punishing Falcons for missing utility and playing sloppily.
Falcons seemed flat, ending the first half without the typical sharpness in their aim and lacking explosiveness.
Winning the pistol, Legacy stretched their lead to 9-5, but lost the initiative the following round after karrigan and René ‘TeSeS’ Madsen’s pistol kills shifted the game.
The breakthrough round shifted the game and the economy, handing Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač an AK, which he used to brutally curtail Legacy’s attacks.
Yet n1ssim once again found his impact in a decisive 3k that gave Legacy their precious first round in five rounds, and Legacy never looked back from there.
try delivered Legacy match point with some precise T-side AWPing, as Falcons’ panicked rushes handed Legacy the kills for the last round as Legacy backed up their victory over NAVI with the 2-0 win over Falcons.
The victory recreated Legacy’s win over Falcons in the Grand Final of the CS Asia Championship 2026. Are Legacy Falcons’ kryptonite?
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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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