ENCE and G2 qualify for the Grand Final of IEM Cologne

IEM Cologne has been full of surprises, which is why the two teams that will place in the Grand Final are not at all the ones we expected.

Both ENCE and G2 Esports seem to have upgraded their play style significantly during the Summer break. Or perhaps their opponents took a bit too much time to relax and enjoy the hot season.

What is certain is that in the face of very strong opposition, which included Team Vitality, Astralis, and Heroic, G2 and ENCE did spectacularly well. In a lot of the matches, both teams got carried by their best players.

ENCE’s run

ENCE started the tournament win a victory against 9INE, followed by another one against Fnatic. These two results were impressive but partly expected. However, what was not expected was ENCE’s victory against Heroic.

This result, made possible by Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia’s excellent K-D score (64-51), sent ENCE directly to the semifinals. Here, the team faced Vitality, who nearly won the first map (16-14) but eventually lost the match 1-2 because of their inability to adapt to ENCE’s tactics on Vertigo (16-7).

Apart from Lotan “Spinx” Giladi” and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, every Vitality player had a rough day.

G2’s run

🫵 @ENCE pic.twitter.com/TjN5ZHecf0

— G2 CS (@G2CSGO) August 5, 2023

G2 had one impossible match after another but still ended up winning group B. They first defeated Astralis (2-1) thanks to the Kovac cousins. Then they dismantled FaZe Clan (2-0). Finally, they encountered Team Vitality and lost the first map, Inferno, 19-17.

But on Vertigo and Mirage, they won with ease. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov had 75 kills in this match, 21 more than ZywOo, who is famous for his ability to frag.

In the semifinals, G2 played another match against Astralis and this time they won a lot faster. The scores were 16-12 on Ancient and 16-9 on Inferno. The G2 trio, made up of m0NESY, Nemanja “huNter-” Kovac, and Nikola “NiKo” Kovac performed as expected, getting 40+ frags per person and less than 30 deaths.

It seems that Astralis are at a stage in their development where they can play well but don’t necessarily have the flexibility to completely change their tactics and strategy from one match to the next. This makes them predictable.

Grand Final

This match is really hard to predict but G2 Esports have the advantage thanks to their superstars’ vast experience.

Header: G2 Esports