Team Spirit and G2 each win two games on day one of the IEM Cologne Major
Four teams came very close to advancing to the third phase of the season’s biggest CS tournament. Team Spirit, G2 Esports, FUT Esports and 9z Team each secured two wins on the first day of the second stage of the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major in Germany – and each of them now needs just one win from the three possible remaining games.
How the second stage works
Sixteen teams contest eight spots for Stage 3 through the Swiss system, from June 6 to 9. The path there opens with three wins; three losses mean elimination. Saturday’s games followed the best-of-one format and, from Sunday, the survival and qualification matchups switch to best-of-three.
At the opposite pole of the table were B8, FlyQuest, paiN Gaming and GamerLegion – all four started 0:2 and are now forced to win three games in a row, or else head home. Eight teams – Monte, Legacy, Astralis, TYLOO, BetBoom Team, MIBR, M80 and FlyQuest – finished the day with one win and one loss.
Team Spirit was the one who went through the day most convincingly. The Russian collective dismantled BetBoom Team 13:5 on Mirage and then literally destroyed MIBR – 13:1, again on Mirage. Daniil donk Kryshkovets racked up 44 frags in total and was the best on both maps, without any reservation.
G2 Esports walked the path the hard way. The first game against M80 was closed out firmly – 13:8 on Mirage – but against Monte they had to sweat: a 22:19 win in a marathon battle. Israel’s Guy NertZ Iluz tallied 52 kills in the day’s balance – the best figure among all participants in Saturday’s games.
9z left no doubt about their intentions: first they took apart FlyQuest 13:9 on Dust II and then steamrolled Astralis 13:5 on Nuke. Chile’s Matías HUASOPEEK Ibáñez was one of four club players to finish with exactly 31 frags across two games – a curious coincidence. FUT Esports, in turn, got the better of B8 (13:11 on Ancient) and TYLOO (13:9 on Overpass), and Ukraine’s Dmytro dem0n Myroshnychenko was the Turkish organization’s best with 33 kills.
What comes next and what the participants risk
On Sunday, the leaders will have head-to-head clashes: G2 against FUT Esports and Team Spirit against 9z. One from each pair will secure its Stage 3 spot in advance, while the other will continue the fight with one win.
The winners of the second stage will join the already qualified Team Vitality, Natus Vincere, Team Falcons, The MongolZ, PARIVISION, Aurora Gaming, FURIA and MOUZ. The tournament final is set for June 21, and the total prize pool is 1.25 million dollars, of which the champion receives 500,000.
