Team Falcons defeated Team Spirit 2-1 in a hugely dramatic IEM Cologne 2026 Major Semi-Final to qualify Falcons for their first Major Grand Final as an organization.
Records set, and soon to be set in the IEM Cologne 2026 Major Grand Final
The Grand Final will be the fourth Major Grand Final in the last five Majors for veteran IGL Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen. The Dane achieves the feat after only two months on the roster following his FaZe departure.
Falcons will now face FURIA in the Best of 5 Grand Final after FURIA defeated Aurora 13-9, 13-4 to return FalleN to the Grand Final of IEM Cologne, an event he has won in 2017 and notably 2016 when the event was last a Counter-Strike Major.
A victory at IEM Cologne would be the third Major for the storied Brazilian, and a second for karrigan if Falcons overcome FURIA’s challenge.
For every other player in the server, it would be their first Major title, most notably, it would be a first Major title for the legendary rifler who has long since chased the accolade, finishing as the runner-up at the PGL Stockholm Major in 2021.
René ‘TeSeS’ Madsen has also appeared in a Major Grand Final before, falling short against Outsiders in the IEM Rio 2022 Major Grand Final.
kyousuke shines as Falcons progress to Grand Final
The benefits of karrigan’s IGLing have been felt in many ways since joining Falcons, from more brawly rounds to more clutch factor in his players.
However, no aspect of Falcons’ progress is greater than the individual progress of Maksim ‘kyousuke’ Lukin, who has experienced a somewhat coming of age under karrigan’s leadership.
The Russian rifler outshone Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets over the course of the series, delivering time and time again to make the difference in the series, against his former organization no less. While kyousuke was a role clash with donk, one wonders whether Spirit regret letting their former academy player go.
Best of all for karrigan’s fans, he one negative of karrigan’s IGLing up until now has slipped away in the Lanxess, with the veteran IGL delivering a few much-needed kills to help his team over the line.
Notably, karrigan delivered on the AWP on Anubis to shut down a B-hit, and jumped through smokes and window on the B site in multiple rounds to give Falcons huge site openings and help them on their way.
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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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