The second match of the day at the IEM Cologne Major 2026 Stage 3 concluded with BetBoom claiming a series victory over The MongolZ. The Russian squad recovered from an initial map loss to win the series 2-1 and start their Stage 3 campaign on a positive note.
The MongolZ claim Dust2 behind dominant performance from 910
BetBoom selected Dust2 to open the series but quickly found themselves in a 0-4 deficit. zorte secured a clutch to put BetBoom on the board, but the offensive half remained difficult for the team. Magnojez experienced a slow start, which stalled multiple strategies. The primary obstacle for BetBoom was 910. The AWPer completely shut down the opposition during the first half, ending the opening period with a 21-5 kill-death record and handing his team a 9-3 advantage.
BetBoom needed a pistol round victory to initiate a comeback. They failed to secure it and appeared heavily outmatched by a sharp Mongolian squad. The momentum shifted late in the second half when FL4MUS stepped up his performance, bringing BetBoom extremely close to forcing overtime. In the final round of regulation, mzinho and 910 managed to break through the defensive line, securing Dust2 for The MongolZ.
BetBoom find their footing on Mirage
The series moved to Mirage, the map pick of The MongolZ. The Asian representatives established an early 3-0 lead. BetBoom responded by winning eight of the final nine rounds on their CT side. Both zorte and FL4MUS ended the half averaging over 100 damage per round.
The dominance continued into the second half. BetBoom executed several highly effective A-site pushes on their T-side, consistently blinding their opponents and securing entry kills. BetBoom closed out the map 13-6 to equalize the series and force a deciding third map.
A close brawl on Ancient goes the way of BetBoom
Ancient served as the decider map. BetBoom began on the offensive side and frequently pushed The MongolZ to the limit in the opening rounds. The Mongolian squad consistently managed to win the early clutch situations, taking a 3-0 lead. Because the rounds were closely contested, the economy of The MongolZ was severely damaged. BetBoom capitalized on this to string together five consecutive rounds before The MongolZ found a reply, resulting in a 6-6 tie at halftime.
The second half turned into a continuous brawl between the two rosters. The teams traded rounds throughout the half, leading to an extremely close finish. BetBoom managed to edge past their opponents in the final moments, claiming Ancient 13-11 to finalize their series victory.
