Aurora Dominate in Kraków Play-In; Parivision Upset Heroic to Advance at IEM Kraków 2026

Aurora Dominate in Kraków Play-In; Parivision Upset Heroic to Advance at IEM Kraków 2026

At the IEM Kraków 2026 Stage 1 Play-In, Aurora made a statement in their opening match and Parivision capitalised on Heroic’s inconsistent performance to progress in the upper bracket.

Aurora’s Impressive Start

Aurora opened the event with a convincing victory in their first Play-In match. They defeated GamerLegion 2–0, winning on Nuke (13–7) and Dust2 (13–5). This marked a strong LAN debut for the roster following their early online exit from the BLAST Bounty season, and showcased promising form coming into Kraków.

In their next upper bracket game, Aurora took advantage of GamerLegion’s poor form, especially the struggles of Oldřich “PR” Nový, whose rating dipped below 0.4 on key maps — a season-low performance that contributed to the team’s defeat.

Standout players for Aurora included Özgür “woxic” Eker and Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş, who each delivered strong performances across maps, anchoring the team’s attack and defence.

Parivision Upset Heroic

Elsewhere in the upper bracket, Parivision pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the Play-In. They won their Best-of-Three match against Heroic 2–1, despite dropping Dust2 13–6 — a map where their ongoing six-map unbeaten streak was snapped.

Parivision claimed Inferno convincingly before losing the second map, but regained control on Ancient, in which star players like Dzhami “Jame” Ali and Emil “nota” Moskvitin were pivotal with high individual impact and multi-kill rounds.

The victory sends Parivision into the next round of the upper bracket, while Heroic, who were aiming to stay in contention for BLAST Rotterdam invites, are now relegated to the lower bracket where they face elimination against GamerLegion.

According to team overview data, Parivision is currently ranked among the top CS2 teams globally, with a lineup featuring Jame, BELCHONOKK, xiELO, nota, and zweih — all contributing to consistent results.