Team Vitality and Astralis advance to IEM Cologne 2023 semifinals

The IEM Cologne 2023 playoffs are in full swing, and we have that; after two intense and exciting matches, Team Vitality and Astralis managed to get 2-0 victories to qualify for the tournament’s semifinals.

There is no doubt that, on Team Vitality’s side, it could have been a little more expected by everyone since, not for nothing, they are the reigning champions of the Paris Major. However, the fact that they faced the new CS:GO powerhouse, Cloud9, made us think that the series would be much more balanced.

On the other hand, in the Danish derby between Heroic and Astralis, everything pointed to Heroic taking a comfortable victory. However, Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz showed impressive play to lead Astralis to a convincing 2-0 victory.

Let’s see what happened in the quarterfinals of the IEM Cologne 2023.

Team Vitality crush Cloud9 by 2-0

The quarterfinals of the IEM Cologne 2023 started with a great match between Team Vitality and Cloud9, two very strong teams with a really impressive lineup. However, Vitality’s experience, synergy, and teamwork came to the fore as they crushed Cloud9 with a resounding 2-0 win.

It all started in Mirage, Cloud9’s map pick, where Shahar “flameZ” Shushan demonstrated why he was the player selected to replace Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen in Vitality’s lineup. In the first half, the French squad returned with a 10-5 victory on their CT side. Then, at the change of sides, Vitality quickly moved 14-5 ahead on the scoreboard before C9 woke up to get closer by 11-15. In the end, Vitality took the win by 16-11.

On the second map, Inferno, things improved as both teams showed their full potential to delight us with CS:GO at the highest possible level. In the first half, Cloud9 took a narrow 8-7 victory on their T-side, something very positive on this map. However, they could not deploy a solid defense at the change of sides, so Team Vitality evened the score by 15-15 to send the map to Overtime. Finally, after an Overtime, Vitality took the victory by 19-17 to seal their ticket to the semifinals of the IEM Cologne 2023, where they will face ENCE.

What a performance from @TeamVitality 🐝

They take down @C9CSGO with a clean 2-0 in the first Quarterfinal of #IEM Cologne 2023 💪

16-11 Mirage
19-17 Inferno pic.twitter.com/c8ax8sAUQi

— Intel® Extreme Masters (@IEM) August 4, 2023

Astralis apply a phenomenal clean sweep against Heroic.

In the day’s second match, the historical Danish rivalry between Astralis and Heroic was let in. However, dev1ce seemed to put on the chip of that dominant player in Astralis’ golden years, as he took it upon himself to crush Heroic to lead Astralis to apply a 2-0 clean sweep.

It all started at Ancient, Astralis’ map pick, where dev1ce, Christian “Buzz” Andersen, and Victor “Staehr” Staehr performed phenomenally to lead their team to victory. In the first half, everything started very evenly matched, as Astralis took a close 8-7 victory on their CT side. However, when the sides switched, Astralis’ offense overcame each of Heroic’s defenses to take a resounding 16-7 victory.

Then, in the second map, Inferno, things started similarly, but this time with Heroic taking a very close partial victory by 8-7. Notably, Heroic won 8 rounds on their T-side, so they had a considerable advantage for the second half. However, at the change of sides, again Astralis’ offense was extremely effective. After winning 9 out of 12 disputed rounds, they managed to take the victory by 16-11. As a result, Astralis advances to the semifinals of IEM Cologne 2023, where they will face G2 Esports.

.@AstralisCS ARE IN THE #IEM COLOGNE 2023 SEMI-FINALS!

They take down @heroicgg 2-0 and crown themselves kings of Denmark 👑🇩🇰

16-7 Ancient
16-11 Inferno pic.twitter.com/F4B5Ap4BaZ

— The Cathedral of Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) August 4, 2023

Header: ESL