BETBOOM booked their place in the IEM Beijing 2026 playoffs by eliminating Liquid 2-1 in a series that went down to the final round of the Mirage decider.
BETBOOM won the opening map, Anubis, 13-5. Kirill "Magnojez" Rodnov posted 21 kills in 18 rounds and a 2.40 rating, his highest ever at a Big Event. Nuke also started in BETBOOM's favor, with a 9-3 lead at the half, but Liquid came back to win 13-11. In round 24, Georgi "Jorko" Mitev and Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski took all five kills.
In the decider Liquid got off to an early lead, and BETBOOM led 7-5 at the switch. Jorko's AWP quad tied the map at 10-10, but with the score at 11-11, Aleksandr "zorte" Zagodyrenko hit an ace in round 23 to put his team on match point. In the final round four Liquid players tried to force their way onto the B site, but Magnojez stopped them and ended the series.
On the B stream, MOUZ beat PARIVISION 2-0 in the Group A playoff seeding match and advanced to the semi-finals. Ancient finished 13-2 after a nine-round streak, with Lotan "Spinx" Giladi posting a career-high 2.59 rating. On Mirage MOUZ led 9-3, PARIVISION closed the gap to two rounds, but MOUZ took it 13-9.
