NAVI send Falcons to lower bracket as first day of IEM Beijing comes to a close

The first map of the two, Ancient, was a one-sided affair as Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov took over with a 2.24-rated performance — his highest of the year — and +13.39% round swing to his name in the 13-5 victory.

makazze ace turns 3v5 in eco round IEM Beijing 2026 Best of 3 Natus Vincere Matchpage 2 0 2nd November 2026 Falcons 13 Ancient 5 13 Mirage 11 Now, Falcons will go up against FaZe in the first round of elimination matches.

Before that final series of the day, Group A saw FURIA knock FaZe down to the lower bracket, HEROIC beat B8 2-0, and The MongolZ win 2-1 against Legacy .

TYLOO and 9z make up the other side of the lower bracket after having lost to MOUZ and BETBOOM , respectively.

The victory marks Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen 's first match against his former team, which he left in April to help Falcons win the IEM Cologne Major. Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and company now move on to face the loser of HEROIC vs.

The MongolZ in their next lower bracket test. The series began with Falcons dominating FaZe 's Ancient pick from start to finish.

Maksim "⁠kyousuke⁠" Lukin (2.08 map rating) finished on top of the board as Falcons breezed to a 13-3 victory, with Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov and René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen not far behind. Next up was Anubis, where Jason "⁠JBOEN⁠" Boe Nielsen took over with a masterful performance.

The Danish AWPer put up 25 kills, 95.5 ADR and a 2.05 rating to lead FaZe to a 13-10 victory, but Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken 's troops ran out of steam on the final map.

Their T side was solid and finished 6-6, but FaZe couldn't hold Falcons ' offense after winning the second-half pistol. Falcons won a force-buy early on and never looked back, winning seven rounds in a row to stay alive in China.

They will now face The MongolZ for a semi-final spot, while Natus Vincere drop down to the lower bracket to face the winner of Legacy vs. "It feels amazing, as we lost to NAVI last event," Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis told the stream post-game.

In the end it was Natus Vincere who took the map, however, winning all four rounds of added time to take their map pick.

Nuke was another close affair that ended in overtime, as Natus Vincere couldn't convert their 9-3 CT half into a win in regulation.

Both pistols once again went the way of FURIA , who eventually closed out the map thanks to KSCERATO finding eight kills in a flawless 4-0 streak for the majority-Brazilian squad.

Cache began with Natus Vincere finally winning their first pistol of the series, but FURIA bounced back with aplomb and won eight in a row to take a sizable lead into their offensive half.