donk on the match against G2 Esports at the IEM Cologne Major 2026: “Warm-up matches are always tough for every team.”

I guess it just so happened that this was our first match in the playoffs, and warm-up matches are always tough for every team—no exceptions. And against G2, which is a very creative team that constantly tries to surprise us with something, a map like Overpass requires a very high level of concentration and communication. We were simply inconsistent in that regard—we had good rounds on both sides where we won 5-0 confidently, and there were rounds where we just fell apart and lost 5-0. And I guess circumstances just played out that way, because this trend started to follow us onto the subsequent maps—Dust2 and Mirage. I mean, it’s not that any particular game plan failed; we probably just didn’t execute the details well and let them do whatever they wanted. We just didn’t punish them for what they were doing, that’s all. It’s a merciless map overall; we lost the force buy, and because of that, the score was already very unfavorable from the start—1:3. Then they picked up two rounds, and it was just really tough against the terrorists after that because our communication wasn’t up to par—that’s basically it.

When I was making the decision, I knew I had a 90 percent chance of winning. The only thing that could stop me was if the crowd started cheering. In the end, I sprint to “top-mid,” the crowd is already starting to cheer, and I realize the bomb is in the plant site—I killed the bomb carrier, and he can’t be here; it’s impossible. And I realize they’re probably just cheering for no reason. And yes, he could turn around and kill me, but I don’t think he will. If they started beeping so early, he’s probably not looking at me, and he must be somewhere in the middle of the “lane,” just as it turned out—he was on top of the “car.” It would take perfect timing for him to turn around and kill me at the exact moment I honk at him. I’d just have to be incredibly unlucky several times in a row, so I figured I should just go for it. I stepped into the “bank” for a second and hesitated: “Wait, is he waiting for me or something?” And I realized that no, that’s just impossible.

Well, I clinched the round, yeah. But it was a team-wide push—I’d say that, anyway. We were discussing how to find the key to breaking their defense. Because, well, we were already up 12–8, and we needed to take action and start doing something. We found it. I think… I’m not sure. We spent twenty more rounds looking for it; there were ten pauses. It was just like that match at PGL Astana between FURIA and the Falcons—the same thing: a bunch of clutch plays, everything hanging by a thread.