ZywOo — MVP, Dust2 — most popular map: key statistics from the IEM Cologne Major 2026
The IEM Cologne Major 2026 concluded yesterday. As the event wrapped up, the top teams and players were determined, and the maps once again revealed an uneven balance between the sides. The main figures and key metrics of the championship are detailed below.
Dust2 was the most frequently picked map of the event, selected 24 times. Mirage took second place in popularity (19 matches), while Inferno came in third, with 15 matches played on it. The maps least favored by teams at the end of the event were Overpass, Nuke, Anubis, and Ancient—they were picked 13, 13, 10, and 9 times, respectively. As for the side balance, the defense dominated on nearly all maps this time, with the exception of Dust2 and Anubis: on the former, the attack held a 1.4% advantage, and on the latter, a 24.6% advantage.
Mathieu “ZywOo” Erbo led the individual statistics at the IEM Cologne Major 2026—the sniper played 14 maps with an average rating of 1.42. Danil “donk” Kryshkovets of Team Spirit took second place with a rating of 1.34. Next on the list were Nikita “HeavyGod” Martynenko of G2 Esports (1.26), Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov of Team Falcons (1.25), Ali “Wicadia” Haydar Yalchin of Aurora Gaming (1.24), Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov of Team Spirit (1.23), and Nikola “NiKo” Kovac of Team Falcons (1.22). Rounding out the top eight was Danil “molodoy” Golubenko of FURIA, whose final rating was 1.22 across 20 maps.
The most successful team of the tournament was runner-up FURIA, with an average team rating of 1.11. Just behind the event’s champions were Team Spirit, who were eliminated in the semifinals, and Team Vitality, who lost in the quarterfinals, finishing the championship with ratings of 1.1 and 1.09, respectively.
The IEM Cologne Major 2026 took place from June 2 to 21 in Germany. Thirty-two teams participated in the tournament, competing for a prize pool of $1,170,000. Team Falcons emerged as the event champions after defeating FURIA 3–0 in a best-of-five series.
Photo by Stephanie Lindgren, BLAST.
