The “Cathedral of Counter-Strike” IEM Cologne 2021 Play-In stage has finally concluded. With it comes the advancement of eight teams to the group stage, and eight teams already concluding their journey at the tournament.

The eight teams making it into the IEM Cologne 2021 Group Stage are:

  • Ninjas in Pyjamas
  • Team Vitality
  • BIG
  • FaZe Clan
  • Complexity
  • Renegades
  • Team Spirit
  • mousesports

Upper Bracket Matchups

The lightning-fast, single-round opening matches were an exciting opening to IEM Cologne. We saw Ninjas in Pajamas take an easy 16-6 over LDLC on Ancient. mousesports also bumped down Bad News Bears to the lower bracket with a dominant 16:7 on Nuke. When it came down to NiP and mouz facing each other off, however, NiP proved to be the better team. They netted a 2:0 victory over mouz, 16:8 on Mirage and 16:11 on Ancient. This victory gave them their ticket into the group stage.

Team Spirit vs. MIBR gave us the closest opening round match-up, going into double overtime. Team Spirit prevailed with a 22:18 on Inferno. They would face Team Vitality who took a convincing 16:6 victory over Renegades on Overpass. Spirit vs. Vitality went all the way to three maps. Vitality took the spot into the IEM Cologne Group Stage thanks to their 16:13 victory on Mirage and 16:12 victory on Nuke despite dropping 14:16 on Dust II.

OG's victory over Team One was a clean 16:6 on Inferno. BIG also took sprout to the lower bracket with their 16:8 win on Dust II. When it came for BIG and OG to contend, BIG turned out to be the better team, winning 2:0. They scored 16:9 on Dust II and 19:17 on Mirage. This gave BIG their entry into the IEM Cologne Group Stage.

FaZe vs. EG marked a relatively exciting game on Mirage, with FaZe taking the win 16:12. Over on the other side of their bracket, Complexity took out ViCi Gaming 16:10 on Mirage. FaZe vs. Complexity was a convincing win for FaZe though, as they took their 16:13 win on Dust II and dominant 16:6 win on Nuke.

Lower Bracket Matchups

Over on the Play-In stage Lower Bracket, we saw Bad News Bears get taken out by LDLC 2:0, with their loss at 9:16 on Inferno and 6:16 on Mirage. MIBR was another team to sent home in the first round, due to RNG taking their 19:15 win on Vertigo and 16:14 win on Mirage. Team One is also a casualty of the first round, sent home by Sprout – they did take one map off them however, Nuke at 16:12. They lost the next two maps, 13:16 (Dust II), 8:16 (Mirage) though. Vici Gaming versus EG was the most one-sided opening round of the lower bracket. EG dominated ViCi with a 16:5 win on Inferno and 16:7 win on Mirage.

The second round games of the lower bracket decided the last four teams moving on to the IEM Cologne 2021 Group Stage. Complexity punched their ticket with a 16:13 win on Dust II and 16:6 win on Mirage over LDLC. Renegades followed with their 16:11 win on Nuke and 19:15 win on Inferno, sending OG home. The closest series was between Spirit and Sprout, with Spirit edging out the 16:10 win on Mirage and 16:13 win on Nuke despite their 14:16 loss on Dust II. Finally, mouz took EG out of the tournament with their 16:12 win on Nuke and 16:8 win on Inferno.

IEM Cologne 2021 Group Stage Brackets

The IEM Cologne 2021 Group Stage will be played in 2-GSL Format. This means two groups of double-elimination brackets. Each bracket will have 4 directly invited teams and 4 teams from the play-in stage. All matches are best-of-three.

Group A

Group A's opening matches are:

  • Gambit vs. mousesports
  • Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Team Liquid
  • Virtus.pro vs. BIG
  • Complexity vs. G2 Esports

Group B

Group B's opening matches are:

  • Natus Vincere vs. Renegades
  • Team Vitality vs. FURIA Esports
  • Astralis vs. FaZe Clan
  • Team Spirit vs. Heroic

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