IEM Beijing 2026 Opens: NAVI, FURIA and PARIVISION Win

IEM Beijing 2026, the Counter-Strike 2 event run by ESL, played its first day on November 2, and all 16 teams took the server. Eight best-of-three series were decided, and the one HLTV's end-of-day report put in its headline was Natus Vincere's 2-0 win over Team Falcons.

Eight teams now sit in the upper bracket of their group. Eight others, among them Falcons, FaZe Clan and G2 Esports, start the next day in the lower bracket, where, RG reported, a further loss means a finish between 13th and 16th place.

Series count and third-map count from the Day 1 results reported by HLTV, Fragster and RG on November 2, 2026; rating from HLTV.

The event and its two groups

The event runs from November 2 to 8 in Beijing and carries a US$1.25 million prize pool, RG reported on November 2. The 16 teams are split into two groups of eight.

ESL's event page places the event at the Bloomage Biotech Biohyalux ECM Arena in Beijing and lists it under an EPT Masters heading. HLTV reported that the main broadcast matches were played in front of a crowd on a 360-degree stage. Strafe reported two English streams, labeled A and B, on Twitch, YouTube and Kick. A best-of-three is a series in which the first team to win two maps takes the match.

Group A held Legacy, The MongolZ, HEROIC, B8, FURIA, FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere and Team Falcons. Group B held Aurora, Team Liquid, PARIVISION, G2 Esports, 9z, BetBoom Team, MOUZ and TYLOO, as HLTV's match tables listed them.

NAVI beat Falcons in two maps

HLTV's report on the day centered on Natus Vincere against Team Falcons, and NAVI won it 2-0.

The first map, Ancient, went 13-5. HLTV reported that NAVI's w0nderful posted a 2.24 rating on it, his highest of the year. Fragster also named w0nderful as the standout on that map. Rating is a single number that sums up a player's contribution over a map.

RG added that w0nderful finished the whole series 38-19 with a 1.75 rating.

Mirage was much closer. NAVI took it 13-11, a score that RG and Fragster both reported.

Fragster reported that NAVI's makazze hit an ace during an eco round on Mirage, a map NAVI won 13-11. An ace is a single player eliminating all five opponents, and an eco round is one in which a team saves money and plays with little equipment.

The result puts Falcons in the lower bracket against FaZe Clan on Day 2. HLTV described that pairing as part of the first round of elimination matches.

FURIA beat FaZe in three maps

In group A, FURIA faced FaZe Clan. HLTV's results listed a 2-1 win for FURIA, which, under the format RG described, sends FaZe to the lower bracket.

RG supplied the maps. On Ancient, FURIA led 10-2 at halftime, then lost the map 11-13. FURIA recovered to win Dust2 13-5 and Cache 13-4. Fragster confirmed the same pattern: FaZe took Ancient and FURIA took Dust2 and Cache.

Fragster noted that FURIA arrived in Beijing straight from winning PGL Masters Bucharest. RG added that FURIA beat Nemiga 3-2 in the final there. The win keeps them in the upper bracket, where they meet NAVI on Day 2.

PARIVISION come back against G2

In group B, PARIVISION beat G2 Esports 2-1, according to HLTV. G2 took Dust2 13-9, RG reported, and PARIVISION answered with Anubis 13-7 and Ancient 13-9.

RG singled out PARIVISION's Jame, who finished with 63 kills and 33 deaths and a 1.46 rating.

G2 now meet Aurora in an elimination series on Day 2.

The rest of the opening round

The MongolZ beat Legacy 2-1 and HEROIC beat B8 2-0 in group A, HLTV reported. Fragster and RG gave no map scores for either series.

In group B, MOUZ beat TYLOO 2-0 on Inferno and Nuke, RG reported. BetBoom Team beat 9z 2-1, RG reported, and RG added that BetBoom came back from a map down.

Team Liquid took down Aurora 2-0. Fragster reported maps of 13-3 on Inferno and 13-4 on Anubis. The outlet also noted that Aurora had beaten Liquid 2-1 at PGL Masters Bucharest.

Group A's upper bracket after Day 1 holds NAVI, FURIA, The MongolZ and HEROIC. Falcons, FaZe Clan, Legacy and B8 sit in the lower bracket. In group B, MOUZ, BetBoom Team, Team Liquid and PARIVISION stayed up, while TYLOO, 9z, Aurora and G2 Esports dropped.

In the Day 2 pairings Fragster listed, each upper-bracket team faces another upper-bracket team and each lower-bracket team faces another from the lower bracket.

How the format works

Strafe's guide to the event laid out the structure. The group stage is two double-elimination groups of eight teams, every match is a best-of-three, and the top three teams in each group advance. Double elimination means a team is not out after a first loss. ESL's event page lists the group stage on November 2 to 4, with matches in four slots each day, and the playoffs on November 6 to 8.

RG said every opening-round loser dropped to the lower bracket, and that the next defeat there means a finish between 13th and 16th place and US$4,000, a figure that matches ESL's table below.

For the teams that advance, RG said group winners go straight to the playoff semifinals, while the second- and third-place teams start in the quarterfinals. With three teams advancing from each of two groups, the playoffs hold six teams. ESL's page puts the quarterfinals on Friday, the semifinals on Saturday and the grand final and a third-place decider on Sunday. Strafe reported that the playoffs are single elimination, that the opening matches are best-of-three and that the grand final is a best-of-five, with a third-place match on November 8. RG gave the playoff dates as November 6 to 8.

ESL's event page publishes the prize table below, split into prize money and a club reward for each place. Field Level Media's report on the opening day gave the same top prize of US$360,000.

Added up across every place, the prize money column comes to US$300,000 and the club reward column to US$950,000, which together match the US$1.25 million pool. The champion's two amounts make US$360,000.

On how the field was set, ESL's team-invites announcement, published August 13, lists 10 invitations from the global VRS list, one each for the top North American, South American and Asian teams in the VRS, and three places pending qualifiers: two from the Global Closed Qualifier and one from the Asia Closed Qualifier. It says the invitations were based on VRS data as of August 3, 2026, and that the winner also competes in the race for the US$1,000,000 ESL Grand Slam. Strafe counted the same split as 13 teams through the rankings and three through qualifiers, two global and one from Asia.

Fragster reported on September 5 that HEROIC and B8 booked their places in the field on September 4, when each beat Nuclear TigeRES 2-0. HEROIC won Ancient 13-6 after leading 11-1 at halftime, then took Dust2 19-17 in overtime, according to that report. The two teams then met on Day 1, when HEROIC beat B8 2-0 in group A.

Strafe's guide added a point about what is at stake. With the VRS rankings for the Singapore Major locked in, Strafe wrote, teams have no incentive to chase last-minute VRS points in Beijing. RG called the event the last big test for many teams before the Major, which it said starts on November 24, and added that the Major's field was finalized on Sunday.

What comes next

Fragster listed the Day 2 pairings. In the upper bracket, FURIA meet Natus Vincere, MOUZ meet BetBoom Team, Team Liquid meet PARIVISION and The MongolZ meet HEROIC. In the lower bracket, Team Falcons play FaZe Clan, Aurora play G2 Esports, TYLOO play 9z and Legacy play B8.

RG gave a time for one match: PARIVISION against Team Liquid at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Monday, which is Tuesday morning in Beijing.

HLTV described both the Falcons and FaZe pairing and the Aurora and G2 pairing as the first round of elimination matches, and Fragster wrote that one of the two teams in the G2 and Aurora series leaves Beijing after two matches.

Eight series, eight winners, and four of them needed a third map to get there.

The .esports registry publishes Esports Observer, so the whole scene can read its news for free.