Natus Vincere punched through another elimination round at the IEM Cologne Major 2026 on June 13, defeating The MongolZ in a best-of-3 series to move into the 2-1 pool of the Swiss stage. In a tournament with $1.25 million on the line, every series at this point carries real weight, and NAVI just bought themselves breathing room.
The Swiss system and why 2-1 matters
For those unfamiliar with how Majors work in CS2, the Swiss format is essentially a structured ladder. Teams don’t play in a traditional bracket. Instead, they’re matched against opponents with identical records each round. Win three before you lose three, and you advance. Lose three first, and you’re out.
Every match in Stage 3 is a best-of-3, which means there’s no room for fluky single-map upsets to decide a team’s fate. It rewards consistency and depth of preparation across the map pool.
At 2-1, NAVI sits in a comfortable but not secure position. They need one more win to advance. A loss would drop them to 2-2, still alive but suddenly facing a do-or-die scenario.
