Cloud9 are the last playoff qualifiers of IEM Cologne 2023

IEM Cologne 2023 continues in full swing, and Cloud9 became the last playoff qualifier after defeating Team GamerLegion 2-1 in the Lower Bracket Group A final.

Undoubtedly, we all expected Cloud9 to comfortably qualify for the playoffs at IEM Cologne 2023. In addition to this organization’s name and strength, the signings made in the player break were mind-blowing, and, of course, they are now one of the major forces in the CS:GO world. However, they still can’t count on one of their stars, Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov, who couldn’t solve his visa issues to make it to Germany in time.

Now, Cloud9 will face Team Vitality in the Quarterfinals of IEM Cologne 2023 to see which team will face ENCE in the fight to be one of the two finalists of the tournament.

Let’s see what happened in the match between Cloud9 and GamerLegion on the last day of Group A.

Cloud9 applied a reverse sweep against GamerLegion to seal their ticket to the playoffs

There is no doubt that Cloud9 was the clear favorite to take the victory in this series against GamerLegion, but anything can happen from what has been shown so far this season. The Paris Major finalists are the surprise team of this 2023 season, and, thanks to that, they are a danger to any Tier 1 team. However, Cloud9 returned from a series in which they lost the first map.

Inferno

It all started on Inferno, Team GamerLegion’s map pick, where Sweden’s Isak “isak” Fahlén was the main architect of his team’s victory. In the first half, GamerLegion gave a small sample of why they selected this map to open the series, as they took a partial victory by 10-5. However, at the change of sides, Cloud9 tried to wake up and even got 10-11 on the scoreboard, but it was not enough, and they ended up falling by 11-16.

ONE bullet 👉 1v2 CLUTCH#IEM @acoRCS pic. twitter.com/VfYD3UulOe

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) August 1, 2023

Ancient

Then, at Ancient, Cloud9 started to work on their comeback in the series on the back of a collective team effort, as they took a solid 10-5 partial win on the T-side in the first half. Then, at the change of sides, GamerLegion came very close to pulling off the upset coming from behind, but C9 had great determination from Denis “electroNic” Sharipov and Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy to take the 16-11 win and even the series 1-1.

When @electronicCSGO says go in, you GO IN #IEM pic.twitter.com/a9BwoSJxPm

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) August 1, 2023

Mirage

Finally, in Mirage, we again witnessed a truly spectacular match. In the first half, GamerLegion took a tight 8-7 victory on their side T. Then, at the change of sides, Cloud9 returned the favor, paid them with the same coin to even the score 15-15, and sent the map to Overtime. Finally, Cloud9 took advantage of a great level of play by Abay “HObbit” Khassenov to take the 19-17 win and seal their playoff berth.

.@C9CSGO are the ones that come out on top, beating @GamerLegion in the Lower Bracket Finals of Group A after OVERTIME on the final map!

11-16 Inferno
16-11 Ancient
19-17 Mirage #IEM pic.twitter.com/seJXbBSYNb

— Intel® Extreme Masters (@IEM) August 1, 2023

Header: ESL