If you filled out a Pick’Em bracket for the IEM Cologne Major 2026, 9z Team just set it on fire. The South American squad pulled off a dramatic upset, reverse sweeping the heavily favored Team Vitality in Stage 3.
That 98% figure is the share of Valve’s official Pick’Em challenge participants who had Team Vitality pegged for a dominant run. Instead, the collective confidence of the CS2 community has become a cautionary tale about consensus thinking.
9z lost the first map, Inferno, by a score of 4-13. On Mirage, they found their footing and took the map 13-9. That came on Dust2, where they closed things out 13-11. Three maps, two different teams showing up for 9z, and one of the biggest upsets the Major has produced.
Valve’s Pick’Em challenge is a beloved community feature at Majors. With 98% of participants backing Vitality’s dominance, this wasn’t a split opinion. It was near-unanimous consensus. Social media erupted as the community acknowledged what 9z had done to their brackets.
The 9z Team represents South America, a region that has historically lived on the margins of tier-one Counter-Strike. The IEM Cologne Major 2026, taking place in mid-June, has already established itself as one of the more chaotic iterations of the tournament.
With 98% of brackets compromised, the remaining stages become a free-for-all. The 2% who backed 9z are sitting pretty, and everyone else is scrambling to salvage their predictions.