IEM Cologne 2022 playoffs favorites

The playoffs stage of IEM Cologne is scheduled to take place this weekend, between July 15-17. There are six teams left in the race and five matches to be played.

The skill difference between the competitors, at least on paper, is quite high. But based on what we’ve seen during the play-in and the group stage, upsets are not out of question. This is what’s most likely to happen in the playoffs of IEM Cologne 2022.

Quarterfinals

In the quarterfinals, Astralis will play against MOUZ, while Movistar Riders will have a tough match against Team Liquid.

Over the last few months, Astralis gradually improved as a team and started to get promising results. At Pinnacle Cup Championship, they finished second. At Roobet Cup they finished 3rd-4th and they would have done even better had they not encountered FaZe Clan in the semifinals.

MOUZ, on the other hand, haven’t looked that great, but their performance in Cologne was nothing short of impressive. They nearly defeated Natus Vincere in the opening match and then went on to win against Heroic, Team Vitality, and Ninjas in Pyjamas to qualify for the playoffs.

This is going to be a tough match for both sides and anyone could win.

In the second quarterfinal, Movistar Riders will need to demonstrate that those play-in and group stage results were not an accident. And there’s a high chance that they will actually win against Liquid. The North American team had a lot of modest results in recent months and they still have a lot to improve if they want to win an S-tier event.

Movistar Riders defeated Vitality (twice) and G2 Esports and then managed to win a map against Natus Vincere. These results clearly indicate that they have the capabilities to beat Liquid. But can they deal with the pressure of playing in front of a live audience?

Semifinals

Semifinals will be played between the two best teams in the world and the winners of the quarterfinals. Na’Vi will probably encounter Astralis, while FaZe Clan is likely to face Movistar Riders. In both cases, the quarterfinal winner is likely to lose in the semifinals. The skill difference is too big and the experience heavily favors the veterans.

Both Na’Vi and FaZe are Major winners and have many players who have competed in playoffs of S-tier events before. On top of that, the audience will be in both cases on their side. So it’s hard to imagine a Grand Final that doesn’t have both teams in it.

Grand Final

If everything goes according to plan, this match will be an excellent chance for Alexandr “s1mple” Kostyliev to get revenge for what happened at PGL Major Antwerp. The team is playing with Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev who has been temporarily borrowed from MAD Lions, however, even he is starting to look like a true Na’Vi player. The match will be tough for FaZe, who will, nonetheless, try to repeat their performance from the Major in Antwerp.

Header: ESL|Steffie Wunderl