Cologne Major Chaos: CS2 Teams That Missed the 2026 Major

While the Cathedral of Counter-Strike stands ready for 2026's first CS2 Major tournament, a few teams will be out of the spotlight. Three old guards of the game, karrigan, s1mple, and dev1ce, will miss the Major stage. While dev1ce and s1mple had their fair share of moments during their prime, the FaZe IGL won't be a part of the Cathedral choir for the first time in 10 years.

It certainly opens up an opportunity for apEX to take over the record of appearing in the most Majors as an IGL. Regardless, let's discuss the list of Counter-Strike 2 Major 2026 missing teams and what went wrong on their journey.

All Teams Missing CS2 Cologne Major 2026

The Stage has been set for CS2 Cologne Major 2026, and 32 teams across three different regions have been selected. Amidst all the hype, some of the best teams from last year's Budapest Major won't grace the stage with their arrival.

Before getting into many details, here's a list of the best teams not in CS2 Major 2026:

• FaZe Clan
• BC.Game
• 100 Thieves
• Ninjas In Pyjamas
• Imperial
• Passion UA
• 3DMAX
• Rare Atom
• Red Canids
• The Huns
• Fluxo
• Fnatic

FaZe Clan has had a disastrous 2026 run from the beginning. The CS2 Budapest Major finalist squad is in a bad position and lost their only opportunity to step into the cathedral of Counter-Strike. It all started in Digital Crusade DraculaN when they lost to both Passion UA and Fnatic. While the squad had decided to participate directly in the PGL Bucharest, their sudden change of plans provided them a Hail Mary attempt to qualify for the Cologne.

FaZe's dreams, however, were shattered by tabseN and company as they lost the final map with a 1-2 score. And now, for the first time in the last 10 years, Karrigan will not be a part of a Major tournament.

If you grind CS2 daily, you might want to check out our recent coverage of CS2 X-ray Scanner Update March 2026.

On the other hand, BC.Game and 100 Thieves are a newly formed team compared to other tier-1 teams in the scene right now. The roster, however, features OG players like dev1ce and s1mple. Despite having such experience on the team, both rosters failed to qualify for the Major stage.

BC.Game has withdrawn their participation from a recent ROG tournament, followed by poor performance in the PGL Bucharest. Menawhile, dev1ce's 100 Thieves couldn't make the cut due to their VRS rankings. Another surprising thing is that teams like 3DMAX, Passion UA, and Rare Atoms have also not made it to the qualification stage due to unforeseen circumstances.

The OG Trio Are Among the CS2 Cologne Major 2026 missing teams

As surprising as this may sound, the OG trio of dev1ce, s1mple, and karrigan are among the CS2 Cologne Major 2026 missing teams. While s1mple and dev1ce's absence is still understandable, a CS2 Major without karrigan feels like a bad dream. Following this devastating season, Karrigan went to X and posted:

Community Reactions to Top Teams Missing CS2 Major 2026

A popular X user on the Counter-Strike community, @statsmeister1, made a post about the teams that will not be a part of 2026's first CS2 Major tournament, IEM Cologne. Believe it or not, the list caught everyone by surprise.

One user brought back nostalgia and mentioned how Fnatic, NiP, and FaZe were the OG teams in the CS community.

Another CS2 fan mentioned a newly formed team under karrigan and requested Valve to try them out.

That wraps up the discussion on CS2 Major 2026 missing teams. In case you're interested in more such pieces, check out our guide for the Cheapest Covert Skins in CS2.