PGL Astana acted as the perfect appetizer to the IEM Cologne Major 2026, delivering compelling storylines as Team Spirit came out on top of a 3-0 Grand Final in the Kazakhstani capital to retain their PGL Astana title.
Spirit, Falcons, and Furia all showed glimpses of what could amount to an IEM Cologne 2026 Major run, as Vitality fell at IEM Atlanta to NAVI, giving the scene some much-needed hope.
Spirit’s PGL Astana victory shows the potential of the roster
Following the initial benching of Leonid ‘chopper’ Vishnyakov, there were significant questions surrounding the decision to elevate Boris ‘magixx’ Vorobiev to IGL on his return from the bench, with Spirit’s T-sides still languishing under the 22-year-old’s leadership.
Myroslav ‘zont1x’ Plakhotia also returned to the roster, not looking like the anchoring rock he previously had been for Spirit, suffering statistically upon his return with 0.76 and 0.80 HLTV ratings at Pro Leagues Season 23 and BLAST Open Rotterdam.
IEM Rio saw Spirit’s teamplay take a significant step in the right direction, with more expressive Counter-Strike, and more calculated and effective utility on show, despite the absence of long-term coach Sergey ‘hally’ Shavayev.
That improvement has been felt mostly in the performances of Andrey ‘tN1R’ Tatarinovich, who has delivered his highest LAN ratings for Spirit at IEM Rio and PGL Astana, with 1.14 and 1.13 ratings finally justifying his roles, and now justifying more freedom for the young rifler.
With zont1x again looking more like himself, it seems that Spirit has graduated from their awkward adolescence with the roster, and its supporting cast is starting to be there for its stars, Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets and Dmitry ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov.
The supporting cast can now keep Spirit in games when donk isn’t delivering because of their stronger foundations. This was evident on Dust 2, where a relatively slow from donk was not fatal, giving the prodigy enough time to warm up and deliver a 1v3 haymaker to Team Falcons.
Team Falcons show promise at PGL Astana
Following playoff qualification, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač remarked to the broadcast that he thought that it was “crazy” that people expected Falcons to win the event. The Grand Final showed why.
A Best of 5 final so early into a project is a tough task, and it proved to be too high a bar for the Falcons to jump over when their map pool and positions are still developing.
Still, the team showed plenty of potential in Astana, delivering on its promise of providing entertaining Counter-Strike. The Quarter-Final against Furia was the chief example of that, and a strong scalp to take so early in with the roster.
Furia themselves looked significantly better at Astana, with Danil ‘molodoy’ Golubenko returning to form in his home country, before the team ultimately fell short in double Overtime on Map 3 of the series.
While the community will be happy to see karrigan back in an arena, karrigan himself may be happiest with Maksim ‘kyousuke’ Lukin, whom he described in a pre-game interview as his nephew.
As Damjan ‘kyxsan’ Stoilkovski took rotation roles as IGL, karrigan’s arrival has sparked role changes for the young rifler, but the player seems happier than ever, praising karrigan vigorously after Falcons’ Semi-Final victory.
Despite yet another Grand Final defeat, a sixth in a row, Falcons will be satisfied with the quick progress of the roster, with its stars activating individually, just needing more time to put together those protocols and team understanding.
Will the roster be ready for the IEM Cologne Major? Perhaps we’ll know more after the CS Asia Championships 2026, where Falcons will be favorites for the trophy, as “crazy” as that may be.
You can discuss the CS Asia Championships on our Discord!
For more CS, see why Heroic has lost Club Partner Status for EWC 2026.
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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