NRG and 3DMAX Eliminated From CS Asia Championships 2026 as MOUZ and Liquid Stay Alive

NRG and 3DMAX have been knocked out of the CS Asia Championships 2026 after suffering lower-bracket defeats on Thursday, while MOUZ and Team Liquid kept their playoff hopes alive with hard-fought victories.

The elimination matches marked the end of the road for both teams at the $1,000,000 Counter-Strike 2 tournament in Shanghai, with NRG forced to play under difficult circumstances after fielding coach Damian “daps” Steele as a stand-in.

NRG Eliminated After Reverse Sweep Against MOUZ

MOUZ survived elimination after defeating NRG 2-1 in a tense lower-bracket clash. NRG started the series strongly with a 13-10 win on Ancient, fueled by an impressive performance from Aran “Sonic” Groesbeek.

However, MOUZ quickly responded on Nuke with a dominant 13-6 victory before securing Mirage 13-9 to complete the reverse sweep.

The deciding map slipped away from NRG after several costly late-round mistakes, including a failed 2v5 anti-eco situation against Lotan “Spinx” Giladi and Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás.

NRG entered the match with coach daps replacing Alexander “br0” Bro, who left the tournament earlier due to a family emergency. The organization confirmed before the match that br0 would miss the remainder of the event.

Team Liquid Knock Out 3DMAX in Close Three-Map Series

Team Liquid also avoided elimination after edging past 3DMAX in another dramatic three-map series.

Liquid opened with a narrow 13-11 victory on Nuke before 3DMAX answered back with a 13-9 win on Dust2. Inferno proved to be the decider, where Liquid eventually closed out the map 13-11 after multiple failed attempts to convert match point opportunities.

Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski delivered one of the key moments of the series with a crucial triple kill late on Inferno to finally secure the win for Liquid.

Keith “NAF” Markovic finished as Liquid’s highest-rated player with 56 kills, 90.3 ADR, and a 1.34 rating across the series.

Despite the loss, Bryan “Maka” Canda continued to impress individually for 3DMAX, posting 55 kills and a 1.23 rating during the series.

3DMAX Continue Difficult 2026 Campaign

The elimination adds another disappointing result to 3DMAX’s recent run of form in international CS2 tournaments.

Following the team’s earlier exit at IEM Rio, Maka openly discussed the squad’s struggles in an interview with HLTV, saying:

“It’s really hard to swallow this one.”

The French AWPer also admitted the team lacked consistency and structure during key moments, pointing to “a lack of work and a lack of a system” behind their recent performances.

3DMAX now leave CS Asia Championships 2026 without recording a single series victory.

CS Asia Championships 2026 Playoff Race Continues

With NRG and 3DMAX eliminated, MOUZ and Team Liquid advance deeper into the lower bracket and remain in contention for a playoff spot at CS Asia Championships 2026.

The tournament features a $1 million prize pool and brings together some of the top Counter-Strike 2 teams in the world as they compete for one of the biggest titles of the spring season.