Best Players of the IEM Cologne Major 2026

Counter-Strike’s Major Championships are where the truly great players separate themselves from the rest, and that was definitely evident at the recently concluded IEM Cologne Major 2026. Time and time again, you could tell who was delivering wins for their team, regardless of game, map pool, and opponent played. It’s true that CS Majors feature the best players and teams in the world, but these are the individuals who truly stole the show all throughout the tournament.

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Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov

How else can you start the list other than with the IEM Cologne Major 2026 MVP himself? m0NESY’s consistency for the Falcons was pivotal in their run throughout the tournament, especially considering their playoff bracket was filled with stacked teams.

At 21 years old, m0NESY’s IEM Cologne Major MVP award makes him one of the youngest to get such a distinction. The victory makes up for all the quarterfinal defeats he’d experienced both in G2 and Falcons through the years and cements his name in the game’s history books forever.

Nikola “NiKo” Kovač

Uncrowned king no more, NiKo is finally able to sit on the throne that’s been rightfully his for well over a decade. Two heartbreaking Major Grand Final defeats and 17 attempts later, one of the greatest to ever play the game of Counter-Strike has finally completed his trophy cabinet.

In the series that mattered the most, NiKo outperformed everyone else on the server and dropped a 1.43 overall rating in Falcons’ 3-0 sweep of FURIA. History was written once more in Cologne, and this time, NiKo is no longer in second place.

Finn “karrigan” Andersen

Do not look at Karrigan‘s HLTV rating or K-D ratio; those absolutely do not tell the story of why he deserves to be on this list. Everyone who’s followed professional CS knows his impact goes far beyond the statistics.

As the Falcons’ newfound in-game leader, Karrigan delivered the organization its first-ever Major trophy in ways that the leaderboards could never track. A second Major title for one of the greatest IGLs that ever lived, and whether or not Valve puts that trophy in his inventory, no one can take that accomplishment away from him.

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