Team Falcons vs Vitality - IEM Cologne 2026 Playoffs

The French juggernaut have strung together four wins from their last five matches, including scalps against MOUZ and BetBoom in the lead-up to playoffs. Their Nuke remains a near-unbreakable closed-map fortress, backed by six months of elite-level consistency on the pool. Vitality know how to win ugly, and they know how to win clean.

Falcons are not without weapons. Their 87% winrate over the recent half-year is genuinely elite, and Dust2 is a map they can lean on hard across a deep sample of games. But the cracks are showing. A form dip to 75% winrate last month signals the team is trending the wrong way heading into the business end of the tournament. The loss to BetBoom six days ago, as a significant favourite, is a red flag that cannot be ignored.

The map pool battle tips firmly toward Vitality. Falcons carry a massive 95% Ancient ban rate, gutting their veto flexibility from the jump. Vitality's ability to force opponents onto uncomfortable territory is a structural advantage here, and the 40% head-to-head winrate Falcons hold historically tells its own story.

Thunderpick odds(at time of writing):

Vitality to win 1.39

Team Falcons to win 2.78