Monte got the result they needed at IEM Cologne Major 2026 — a 13-11 win over Legacy moving the international roster into the 2-1 pool of Stage 2. But Aurimas ‘BYMAS’ Pipiras was openly uncomfortable with how the team got there. Speaking to HLTV after the match, the Lithuanian rifler said Monte made the win ‘far more difficult than it needed to be’ — and warned that the underlying emotional-control issue could cost the team as the Major progresses.
The ‘almost lost to ourselves’ framing
‘A rollercoaster of emotions, we almost lost to ourselves,’ BYMAS told HLTV. The 21-year-old pointed to a specific structural moment: a lengthy technical pause that hit immediately after Monte won the opening pistol round. The pause disrupted the team’s rhythm and contributed to mounting frustration as the map progressed.
The tilt issue
BYMAS described Monte’s in-game emotional management as something the team is rarely affected by in official matches — making the Legacy series an exception rather than a pattern, but a meaningful one given the Major stakes:
‘We had some tilt issues in this match, which we’re going to have to solve because during the Major, we cannot lose our heads. These matches are way too important to lose our heads.’
The framing is unusually direct for a post-match interview. Most Tier 1 rosters publicly downplay emotional management issues to protect locker-room morale. BYMAS chose the opposite — flagging the issue publicly because it has to be solved before Stage 3.
BYMAS on Legacy’s quality
The Lithuanian also took care to credit Legacy as a genuinely dangerous opponent, framing the win as narrower than Monte’s individual ceiling should have made it:
‘I feel like the game could have been even way better for us if we actually played to our standard.’
The implication is structural — Legacy didn’t beat Monte; Monte beat themselves into a closer-than-necessary scoreline. For a roster that arrived in Cologne with genuine Stage 3 ambitions, the read is both honest and pointed.
What it means for Monte’s Major
Monte enter the next Stage 2 match in the 2-1 pool — one win from Stage 3 qualification. The BYMAS interview frames the situation cleanly: the team has the structural ceiling to advance, but only if the Legacy-match tilt pattern stays an exception rather than a tournament habit. The next opponent will face a Monte side that has just publicly committed — through BYMAS — to solving the issue before the Bo3 matters.
The wider Cologne picture
Monte’s 13-11 fits a recurring Stage 2 pattern at the Major — tight Bo1 scorelines, narrow advancement margins, and structural-ceiling rosters working harder than the pre-event scouting suggested they would have to. Spirit’s 3-0 and FUT’s 3-0 are the structural outliers; everyone else has been grinding. BYMAS’s tilt comment is the rare honest interview that captures what most other Stage 2 sides are quietly experiencing — a Major bracket where preparation isn’t enough on its own and emotional control matters as much as map pool depth.
