Parivision, 3DMAX and G2 Esports qualify for IEM Kraków Group Stage

Parivision, 3DMAX, and G2 Esports have become the first three teams to qualify for the IEM Kraków 2026 Group Stage.

The trio successfully navigated through the Play-In’s upper bracket, scoring two victories across the tournament’s first two days.

After knocking HEROIC into the lower bracket in its opening match, Parivision continued its recent run of strong form by booking its place in the group stage with a 2-1 victory over Aurora Gaming. 

A one-versus-two clutch in the opening map from Vladislav ‘xiELO’ Lysov helped solidify the defence of the BLAST Bounty Season 1 champion, taking Mirage with a convincing 13-5 scoreline. 

Aurora Gaming’s pick of Anubis heavily favoured the team famous for its strong performances on the map. A 13-5 win for Aurora Gaming levelled the series, but Parivision’s class shone through on the deciding Dust II.

A dominant 10-2 half built a lead impossible for Aurora Gaming to overcome. In the end, Parivision closed out the map with a 13-4 scoreline to wrap up a 2-1 series victory and highlight itself as one of the event’s dark horses.

Earlier in the competition, 3DMAX successfully fended off FUT Esports in a tricky best-of-three that required overtime in the first two maps. This victory set up a clash against a BC.Game side that was also riding a wave of momentum after sweeping aside Legacy. 

A lack of cohesion from BC.Game was evident from the outset, with 3DMAX showcasing superior teamplay to take Overpass 13-3. Despite Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev almost completing an unlikely one-versus-four clutch on Anubis, 3DMAX rounded out the second map with an impressive 13-4 scoreline to secure a dominant 2-0 sweep and move on to the next stage.

Despite the absence of Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic, Team Liquid has continued to display signs of brilliance during its Kraków campaign. However, in its way was G2 Esports, which remains among the world’s best teams in the early stages of 2026. 

G2 Esports began the series with an excellent attacking display, winning seven rounds in the second half of Mirage to take Team Liquid’s map pick 13-8, securing an early lead. Not backing down, Team Liquid answered back on the BLAST Open London champion’s pick of Inferno, halting any kind of attack to build an 11-1 lead at halftime.

G2 Esports mounted a slight comeback in the second half, but two attacking wins from Team Liquid wrapped up a 13-6 win to force an Anubis decider. 

Similar to Mirage, the offence of G2 Esports proved too strong for Team Liquid in the first half, earning a 9-3 lead after 12 rounds. Still, Team Liquid reduced the deficit, along with breaking the G2 Esports economy in round 19 to take the lead, thanks to a sublime performance from Roland ‘ultimate’ Tomkowiak on AWPing duties. G2 Esports answered back with three defensive rounds to send the map and series to overtime. 

Ultimately, it was G2 that emerged victorious after trading rounds back and forth with Team Liquid, taking Anubis 16-14 to round off a hotly contested 2-1 victory. 

Day three of IEM Kraków 2026 features more teamslooking to secure one of the remaining places at the event’s Group Stage. The remaining upper and lower bracket matches take place from 1 PM GMT on January 30th.

Fans can watch the remaining teams across ESL’s Twitch and YouTube channels