Team Spirit concede just 10 rounds in Stage 2 of the IEM Cologne Major

Owen Harsono Published 08/06/2026

It was pretty weird seeing Team Spirit having to start the IEM Cologne Major from Stage 2, but they quickly proved why that was a mistake.

With donk shooting on all fronts, the Eastern Europeans speed ran the competition to book their spot in Stage 3. With how they’ve been playing, it’s hard not to wonder whether they can actually win the entire thing.

Team Spirit come out swinging

These boys can sometimes be known as slow starters heading into events, but this time they came out guns blazing.

On their IEM Cologne Major debut, Team Spirit took down a promising BetBoom team on Mirage. Despite starting the map down 2-4, they eventually won 11 out of the next 13 rounds to close it out 13-5. Their best CS2 player, donk, wasted no time, dropping a nuclear 2.26 rating with seven multi-kills.

Now in the 1-0 pool, Team Spirit were tasked to face MIBR on Mirage once again, and this match was even easier than the last. The magixx-led squad wiped the floor with a 13-1 victory. The C4 never even exploded in this match – every round ended through eliminations.

The donk show continues

Team Spirit woke up the next day and didn’t let their foot off the gas, as seen in their qualification series against 9z Team.

Playing Mirage for the third time, Team Spirit comfortably won their map pick 13-3. Next up was 9z’s map pick of Nuke, and that turned out to be a forgettable one for the South Americans. Donk completely smurfed on them, going 23-7 to win the map 13-1.

These results meant the squad swept past Stage 2 to land their seats on Stage 3, where all the top teams reside. And keep in mind, Team Spirit were playing without a coach the entire time.

Though their advancement was an expected result, the fashion in which they did it was not. Team Spirit only lost 10 rounds across four maps. That’s an average of 2.5 rounds per map! We’re glad to have them going 3-0 on our IEM Cologne Major Pick’Ems.

Though the entire team pulled their weight, donk’s performance is hard to ignore. He’s averaging a 2.27 rating across four maps – safe to say, that’s not something you see every day.

Are Team Spirit actually going to win this thing?

Coming into the event, the boys were labeled the number two team behind Team Vitality – clearly the best CS2 team in the world. However, from what we’ve seen in Stage 2, they might not be as far behind as we think – and esports prediction markets seem to agree.

Before the Major started, traders gave Team Spirit an 18% chance to bring the trophy home. After donk went to town on his first two days, their odds shot up to 24% on Polymarket and Kalshi, inspiring belief in more traders.

Team Spirit odds. Image credit: Polymarket

Though their Stage 2 performance was something to behold, we’re still early into this tournament. Tougher competition awaits in Stage 3, so we’ll have to wait and see what they have in store.

Featured image credit: ESL

Owen Harsono

About Owen Harsono

Owen lives for competition, spending most of his gaming hours on Dota 2, CS2, and Valorant. A regular on the SEA Dota 2 leaderboards, he combines his first-hand experience with a deep passion for esports journalism, following the professional scenes of all three esports betting titles religiously. When he’s not writing, he’s most probably betting on esports and watching the latest events.

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