IEM Cologne group stage day 2 analysis

The second day of the group stage of IEM Cologne had six amazing matches and some of the strong teams have already been eliminated. Meanwhile, underdogs like Movistar Riders continue to impress.

Most of these matches were quite brief, ending with a 2-0 result for one of the two competitors. But a few were challenging for both sides.

Group A results

In Group A, the matches were the following:

Natus Vincere vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas

This was a very one-sided battle and Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev, Na’Vi’s temporary stand-in, was the unlikely carry for the team, along with Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Denis “electroNic” Sharipov. The first two players had a K-D score of +22 while the third had a score of +13.

The final result of this match was 2-0 in favor of Na’Vi, who won both maps with ease: 16-3 on Overpass and 16-7 on Nuke.

Movistar Riders vs. Team Vitality

Movistar Riders were on a 7-win streak ahead of this match and had defeated Vitality in the play-ins of IEM Cologne. Few people expected the Spanish squad to do it again, but that’s exactly what they did. The match was hard and needed three maps to conclude: 16-4 on Mirage, 3-16 on Vertigo, and 16-12 on Nuke.

MOUZ vs. Heroic

Heroic are now officially in a bad situation. They benched Ismail “refrezh” Ali three weeks ago after winning the title at Pinnacle Cup Championship, hoping to achieve similar results at S-tier tournaments. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that they’ve made a mistake.

MOUZ won the match in two maps: 16-13 on Vertigo and 16-10 on Nuke.

G2 Esports vs. ENCE

The Kovac brothers carried G2 in this match against ENCE and Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov had a surprisingly good day. The youngster finished with a K-D score of +12 and his AWP frags were instrumental in his team’s success.

G2 won the battle in just two maps: 16-13 on Dust II and 16-8 on Ancient.

Group B results

In Group B, there were only two matches on day 2:

FaZe Clan vs. 00 Nation

FaZe Clan, the number one team in the world, had some difficulties against Marcelo “coldzera” David’s squad but the Europeans ended up winning with a score of 2-0: 16-13 on Ancient and 16-10 on Inferno.

This result wasn’t hard to predict, but some people hoped that the coldzera and Epitacio “TACO” de Melo would save 00 Nation. But despite their best efforts, FaZe Clan’s players were just too good.

Astralis vs. FURIA Esports

Astralis played well against FURIA and two of their newest players, Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke and Benjamin “blameF” Bremer, had excellent scores: +21 and +17. The match ended after the first two maps: 16-8 on Nuke and 16-13 on Mirage.

Header: ESL|Steffie Wunder