The IEM Cologne 2024 Group Stage is now underway, and we’ve already seen some massive upsets that could change the course of this prestigious CS2 tournament. Spirit and G2 find themselves on the brink of elimination already – read on to find out all the highlights from the day’s action!
SAW & The MongolZ set up G2 & Spirit for early elimination
Credit: IEM on X.
Our IEM Cologne 2024 power rankings had G2 and Spirit down as two of the big favorites in this tournament. Now, both teams are facing elimination after only one day of play. Worst of all, they play each other for their spot in Cologne, meaning we’re definitely losing at least one tomorrow. Holders G2 fell in a swift 2:0 against SAW, while Spirit faced a similar situation against The MongolZ.
Truth be told, neither team deserved any more than they got. G2 saw malbsMd’s first struggling performance for the team, while Spirit looked mortal whenever donk was struggling to find impact. It’s a growing concern that Spirit can’t seem to find ways to win whenever donk is having a rough series, with zont1x having a particularly rough day of it at IEM Cologne 2024.
FaZe Clan halt decline against Team Liquid
Credit: IEM on X.
It was a much better day at the office for FaZe Clan, as they put a halt to their current slump against a previously unbeaten Team Liquid roster. Admittedly, karrigan vs Twistzz in an IGL battle was always going to be a fascinating storyline, but it seems that the student isn’t yet ready to usurp the master. 2:0 was the score, but you’re hardly going to hear Liquid raise the alarm bells after this close series.
FaZe Clan were boosted by a strong performance from ropz and rain, while ultimate continued to show his remarkable adaptation to Tier 1 on the side of Team Liquid. If FaZe are to have a solid run at IEM Cologne 2024, they need to keep ropz activated. His own struggles on the server are well documented at the moment, so this first outing is hopefully a sign of better things to come.
Astralis & NAVI get the job done
Credit: IEM on X.
Upsets? Astralis and NAVI have never heard of them. Both were favored in their clashes against 9z Team and paiN Gaming respectively, and they delivered with straight 2:0 wins across the board. Frankly, neither series was particularly competitive, showing G2 and Spirit how it’s supposed to be done against worse teams on paper.
Astralis will be pleased to see such a strong performance from Staehr and jabbi, winning the day even without stavn performing. It’s hard to praise just one individual from NAVI – each player was strong in that series, and it was so dominant that there wasn’t time for anyone to actually rack up a high kill count. Now, these two teams will face one another for a Playoffs spot, while the loser will go on to face the winner of G2 vs. Spirit. Talk about a rough draw.
Here are all of the results from the six matches from today’s IEM Cologne 2024 Group Stage action:
FaZe Clan 2:0 Team Liquid
Complexity 2:1 Virtus.pro
SAW 2:0 G2
Astralis 2:0 9z Team
The MongolZ 2:0 Spirit
NAVI 2:0 paiN Gaming