Spirit and G2 turned Cologne into a classic, and Zero1Gam...

Zero1Gaming attended the IEM Cologne 2026 Major playoffs at the LANXESS Arena as an official partner of Astralis, but by the end of Friday’s quarter-final, the story in the building belonged to Team Spirit and G2. What started as a high-level playoff match became one of the most incredible matches in CS2 history.

Spirit won 2-1 and moved on to the semi-finals, but the score alone does not explain what the crowd had just seen. G2 took Overpass 13-9, Spirit answered on Dust2 16-14, and Mirage spiraled into four overtimes before Spirit finally closed the decider 25-22. It was one of those matches where the arena kept leaning forward because nobody trusted the game to stay normal for more than a round or two.

G2 set the tone early and forced Spirit onto the back foot

Spirit and G2 turned Cologne into a classic, and Zero1Gaming was there to see it

The first map made the series look much more straightforward than it turned out to be. G2 were sharper on Overpass, more comfortable in the spacing, and better at turning early advantages into clean wins. HeavyGod’s impact stood out again, and G2’s T side gave them the kind of cushion that let them play the rest of the map from in front.

Spirit did not look fully settled early in the series. Their usual confidence was there in flashes, but G2 did a good job of dragging them into a more awkward pace. For long stretches of Overpass, it felt like G2 were the side dictating where the rounds would be decided and how much risk either team had to take.

Inside the arena, the first map gave the impression that G2 had found the right formula and were guaranteed the match. But that all changed when Spirit decided to step it up a notch and keep G2 on their toes.

Dust2 was where the match stopped behaving like a normal quarter-final

Spirit’s response on Dust2 changed the shape of the day. The map stayed close through regulation, and neither side ever managed to create the kind of separation that would let the match be decided. G2 had chances to close, Spirit had chances to break free earlier, and the whole map carried the feeling that one mistake would decide it.

Instead, it became the first real turning point of the series. Spirit survived, pushed the map into overtime, and then found the composure G2 could not hold onto at the end. Dust2 did not yet have the madness of Mirage, but it was the moment where the series stopped being a good playoff match and started feeling like something much larger.

It also reminded everyone in the building what Spirit is capable of when a match gets messy. Donk’s name will always pull the most attention, and with good reason, but what stood out on Dust2 was Spirit’s ability to stay present in rounds that looked like they were slipping away. G2 were still playing well. But Spirit was just refusing to let them set the pace.

Mirage became the kind of match people remember long after the tournament ends

By the time Mirage reached overtime, the arena already knew it was watching something unusual. G2 had put themselves in a strong position more than once. Spirit had looked ready to break more than once. Neither side was willing to go.

G2’s 8-4 first half gave them a platform, and at 12-9 they were one clean sequence from ending the series. Instead, Spirit played their best Counter-Strike with the season on the line, dragging the map back and forcing extra rounds. That was the point where the atmosphere of the stadium changed. It no longer felt like one team was about to win. It felt like the match had entered a space where almost anything could happen.

And then it did. Mirage kept stretching, round after round, into a test of nerve as much as mechanics. The standout moment came when magixx somehow won a post-plant alone against four G2 players after the initial bomb had been defused. It was the kind of play that makes an arena go from noise to disbelief and then straight back to noise again. Even the G2 supporters were cheering for a game well played.

That round should have broken G2. But, It did not. They kept finding ways to stay alive, which is part of what made the map so compelling. Every time it looked like Spirit had landed the decisive blow, G2 answered. Every time it looked like G2 had somehow survived the worst of it, Spirit created another crisis.

When Mirage finally ended at 25-22, the result felt almost secondary to the experience of getting there. Spirit had won, but both teams left the server having been part of something much bigger than an ordinary quarter-final.

Spirit moved on, but G2 left with respect from the whole stadium

Spirit deserved to advance because they found solutions under pressure that G2 could not quite match by the end. They lost the opening map, stared down elimination on Dust2, survived again and again on Mirage, and still had enough left to close one of the wildest playoff maps the event produced.

Donk will take a lot of the spotlight because he is the player who bends matches around himself, but Spirit’s win was not only about explosive moments. It was about surviving the parts of the series where control disappeared and trusting that someone, somewhere, would still find the right play.

G2, though, did not play like a team that should leave ashamed. They pushed one of the tournament favorites into a series that could have gone either way on multiple occasions, and for long stretches they looked like the more stable side. If anything, the match strengthened the sense that this version of G2 is dangerous when it has its spacing and structure in place.

That is what made the series so compelling from inside the arena. It was not one team collapsing or one star hard-carrying a weak opponent. It was two very good teams continuing to answer each other until the margins became almost impossible to see.

For Zero1Gaming, this was the kind of playoff match that explains why Cologne still matters

Zero1Gaming was in Cologne as an official partner of Astralis and on our arrival we were gifted with one of the most impressive games of Counter-Strike 2 we have ever seen. There may be bigger tournaments and bigger trophies out there, but not many tournaments have given us the type of match that made our jaws drop like it did at the IEM Cologne Majors.

At the end of the day. Spirit advanced. G2 went home. But the real legacy of the match is not that simple. Because for a few hours in Cologne, this Counter-Strike match stopped being the quarter finals and started feeling like the main event.