The Stunning Results of Day 2 in IEM Cologne Group Stage

Day 2 of the Group Stage of IEM Cologne just concluded, with two teams qualifying for the Playoffs and two more being some of the first to pack their bags and go home.

NaVi and Movistar Riders have become the first two teams to qualify for the Playoffs and generic heavyweights in Heroic and ENCE, the two semifinalists in the two previous Majors, have become the first two teams to be disqualified.

NaVi and Movistar Riders will now fight it out in Upper Bracket Round 3, with the winner booking a Semifinal spot in Germany with the losing team settling for the Quarterfinal spot.

So how did we reach here? How did NaVi and Movistar Riders 2-0 their opponents, and more importantly, how did Heroic and ENCE get 0-2ed? Cologne is heating up, and here’s what happened.

The 2-0 playoffs qualifiers

NaVi faced MOUZ and NiP en route to UB Round 3. Though the UB Round 2 match against NiP was a mere warmup for the BLAST Premier Spring Finals’ Grand Final rematch, the affair against MOUZ had its hiccups.

MOUZ took NaVi all the way to the third map. The match started on MOUZ’s Nuke, the map NaVi had voluntarily banned against VItality in the Grand Final of BLAST Premier Spring Finals. MOUZ took one for the team by trying to find out the prep levels of NaVi on Nuke.

NaVi won.

Despite electronic’s poor opening kills stat and torszi’s overall 1.34 CT-sided rating, NaVi penetrated MOUZ’s defense in the second half like a hot knife through butter. (Not my ideal metaphor, but the alternative wouldn’t strictly remain family-friendly.) MOUZ did a great job on their T side by winning it 9-6, but NaVi’s 10-3 meant the Ukrainians were more than likely to close it out 2-0.

Some of these rounds from NaVi really helped showcase the deep understanding everyone has of the game. For example, in Round 14, NaVi had lost both s1mple and electronic, hence Outside control in a 3v5. sdy quickly rotated through Vents into Lower to help stall the Ts, but he was greeted by nothing but silence. The cogs in electronic’s head quickly turned, as NaVi made a smart mid-round adjustment to completely give up A and send b1t from Hell into Garage. b1t could’ve gotten shot on his way, but that’s a risk they had to take to win a round that seemed unwinnable. MOUZ played right into NaVi’s hands. Two MOUZ players were in an open A, and hence, they all tried to rotate into A from Secret. NaVi had all their pieces in the perfect spots for that. b1t got an initial 3k, and by the time Perfecto was killed, sdy had pushed from Lower and Secret to Outside, helping b1t clean up the remaining Ts. NaVi won a 3v5 with two players alive. Beautiful.

A more player-centric gamesense-involved play was in Round 11. s1mple was stuck behind the boxes near CT Spawn. NaVi had lost Ramp and Outside control, and s1mple was being pinched. With 3 CTs closing in on his position, s1mple had to make his peeks count. He cleared a few positions and got some s1mple kills before Perfecto joined his side from Heaven to close out possible positions. Without getting any visuals, sdy and s1mple easily figured out the position of the unknown T who was climbing onto Heaven.

It’s a treat to watch such beautiful rounds from NaVi.

MOUZ returned the favour to NaVi on their pick of Mirage. NaVi won their T side 9-6, but MOUZ won theirs 10-5, to win the map 16-14. ### basic analysis

NaVi did not waste any time avenging their map loss, as they dispatched the EU team with ease on the deciding map of Inferno. An 11-4 CT half meant the game was a foregone conclusion, as NaVi closed it out 16-6.

Their second match against NiP today was relatively easier. 3 out of 4 halves of the match were more dominant than me vs blameF in a wrestle. Me winning, of course. On NiP’s pick of Overpass, they got absolutely thrashed. They couldn’t get anything working and they had descended into full tilt mode. NaVi won Overpass 16-3, but it could’ve easily been 16-1.

.@S1mpleO WINS THE IMPOSSIBLE ROUND!

WHAT AN ACE ♠️#IEM pic.twitter.com/POPJwMXyHE

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 8, 2022

Next came NaVi’s own pick of Nuke. Ah, the old, golden days. The first half wasn’t exactly reminiscent of the bygone era of domination, though. NiP put 7 on the board on their CT side, and though it was clear that NaVi would eventually win out the map, the final scoreline was still shrouded in mystery. After a respectable first half for NiP, their Overpass demons woke up from their slumber, as NiP lost the T side 0-8. A perfect CT side from NaVi meant they had sent out the message to the rest of the teams.

Natus Vincere is back.

Movistar Riders are the ones tasked with handling the beasts that once were, and are growing into again. The Spaniards’ dream run into the Playoffs starred the likes of ZywOo, NiKo, huNter– and m0NESY… all these heavyweight superstars on the losing end. But will their lucky stars shine bright enough to blind the likes of s1mple?

Movistar Riders defeated MIBR and Vitality in the Play-In to qualify for the Group Stage. Here, they had to wrestle against G2, and the scoreline expectedly read 2-0. Except, the 2 wasn’t G2’s. The EU team had gotten 0-2ed by the World Number 14. They lost 16-12 on Vertigo and 16-9 on Inferno. The Spanish team then defeated Vitality again, this time to qualify for the Playoffs. They proved that their Play-In win wasn’t a mere fluke. They were here to fight and roll some serious heads. They thrashed Vitality on the EU team’s map pick of Overpass 16-4. Vitality then returned the favor on Vertigo, where they defeated the Riders 16-3. Vitality looked in pole position to avenge their Play-In loss when they held a 12-11 lead on Nuke, but the Spaniards put forth a flawless attack to snatch away the win 16-12.

Confirmed in the Lanxess!!! ? @Movistar_Riders win! ?????????? All the emotions ?? pic.twitter.com/voDTTFDxZ5

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 8, 2022

You simply never expect a Spanish inqui… okay, I’ll stop.

The 0-2 bag packers

The nature of the UB Round 1 results meant we had some real titans hanging by the skin of their teeth in Germany. MOUZ vs Heroic and G2 vs ENCE.

I simply wasn’t ready for Heroic losing 0-2 against NiP and MOUZ.

Against NiP, both the maps were closely fought, but the endgame advantage always fell towards the side of NiP. Both maps, Heroic’s Ancient and NiP’s Inferno, ended 16-13 in favor of NiP, with the Swedish having 15-14 first kills in both. hampus was a beast throughout the game, with es3tag stepping up massively as well on Inferno, mostly in regards to his 10 opening kills. stavn and cadiaN were trying their own heavy lifting, but it was always a little too less, a little too late.

The MOUZ scoreline wasn’t by design, either. MOUZ put forth some very surprising run of plays to snatch this victory. The first half of the first map, MOUZ’s own pick of Vertigo, met more of my personal expectations: the CT-sided Heroic hammering MOUZ 12-3. What I did not expect was the 13-1 CT side that MOUZ responded with, snatching away Vertigo from under the Danes’ noses. Their hot CT-sided win streak continued into the second map, as they won the first half 10-5. Heroic could’ve had a fighting chance had it not been for MOUZ’s crucial pistol win and the conversions of the following two rounds.

POV: You're a @heroicgg fan watching Vertigo at home#IEM pic.twitter.com/YDZsCdj4WS

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 8, 2022

Heroic did try to salvage something from whatever was left of the match but were left with nothing but their heads in their hands. They had become the first team to be eliminated from the Group Stage in IEM Cologne 2022. Heroic clearly need time to adjust to their recent roster changes, and the NaVi-like adaptation I had dreamt of was obviously just that: a dream.

Joining their side on the same night were the EU giants ENCE. The Antwerp Major Semifinalists had their season cut short after Vitality and G2 had their way with them.

Against Vitality, ENCE’s fate was sealed to begin with. On two of the three maps, they started the second half with 3-12 and 2-13 deficits. Their lifeless attacks had written their fate in red ink, and all they had to show for it was a 16-12 win on Vitality’s map pick of Dust 2. ZywOo and Magisk’s performances had relegated ENCE into the Lower Bracket early on, where they would’ve met Movistar Riders had the Spaniards not humiliated G2. ENCE ended up meeting G2 in the Lower Bracket, and Aleksib’s harrowing loss to Movistar Riders meant the advantage definitely sided with ENCE. That advantage started to materialize when ENCE took an 8-0 lead on G2’s map pick of Dust 2. A dream map of sunny daffodils turned into a nightmare, as NiKo and co. slowly built back into the game. After a streak of T rounds, G2 found themselves in a very manageable 6-9 half. They put out a strong defense thereafter suffocate ENCE and break their mental fortitude. G2 won Dust 2 16-13, despite being 0-8 down at one point.

ENCE looked unfazed from throwing that map, though. On their pick of Ancient, they put out 8 T rounds in the first half, a celebratory result for a CT-sided map like Ancient. (Less CT-sided now after that Ancient update, though.) What the world was not ready for was G2 posting a 9-0 T side on Ancient against the World Number 3. When NiKo pulls 1.95 rating performances out of his hat, all you can do is bow and surrender.

2 out of 6 teams have been confirmed in the #IEM Cologne 2022 playoffs! @natusvincere ✅@Movistar_Riders ✅

Which other 4 teams do you think will be joining them? ? pic.twitter.com/5Mfa3Dt2xh

— Intel® Extreme Masters (@IEM) July 8, 2022

ENCE became the second team to quit IEM Cologne 2022 in the Group Stages. Heroic very much had an excuse of roster changes, but things are hard to explain away for ENCE. Their only defense is that they faced the likes of ZywOo and NiKo.

"You should be nothing but proud of what you have achieved with this team and what you made."@G2NiKo ?❤️? @SnappiCSGO#IEM pic.twitter.com/EYfzVI5qfP

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) July 8, 2022

In Group B, FaZe Clan defeated coldzera’s 00Nation to reach UB Round 2 where they’ll meet Team Spirit, who relegated a new face Team Liquid into the Lower Bracket to fight it out with 00Nation. Cloud9 defeated Outsiders 2-0 to set up a date with Astralis, who surprisingly defeated FURIA 2-0. Outsiders and FURIA will now be fighting for their lives in the Lower Bracket, of course.

Today, we’ll see two more teams qualifying for the Playoffs, FaZe Clan and Cloud9 most probably, and two others joining Heroic and ENCE at the airport; no prediction. The Group Stage is set to conclude in just 36 hours, and we can barely afford to miss out on anything anymore.