Team Liquid, SAW and Complexity Gaming became the first three teams to book group-stage berths from the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne’s play-in stage on Thursday in Germany.
In second-round action in the upper bracket, Complexity swept Eternal Fire 2-0, Liquid rallied past FURIA Esports 2-1, and SAW came from behind to beat BIG 2-1.
Three teams stayed alive on Tuesday with victories in the lower bracket. Team Falcons downed ALTERNATE aTTaX 2-0, HEROIC overtook 3DMAX 2-1 and The MongolZ thrashed FlyQuest 2-0.
Sixteen teams began in the double-elimination play-in stage of the $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. Eight will advance to the group stage, where eight previously qualified teams await: Team Spirit, FaZe Clan, MOUZ, G2 Esports, Team Vitality, Natus Vincere, Astralis and Virtus.pro.
The group stage, which runs from Saturday to Tuesday, will feature two double-elimination groups of eight. The group winners move directly to the playoff semifinals. The group runners-up advance to the playoff quarterfinals as high seeds, and the groups’ third-place teams go to the playoff quarterfinals as low seeds.
The single-elimination playoffs are scheduled for Aug. 16-18. All tournament matches are best-of-three with the exception of the grand final, which will be best-of-five. The champion earns berths in the IEM Katowice event and the BLAST Premier World Final, while also pocketing $400,000.
On Thursday, Complexity topped Eternal Fire 13-9 on Vertigo, then 19-17 in double overtime on Dust II. The United States’ Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski produced 55 kills and a plus-11 kill-death differential for Complexity.
FURIA opened with a 13-8 win on Anubis before Liquid claimed Nuke 13-11 and Mirage 13-7. Poland’s Roland “ultimate” Tomkowiak logged 53 kills and a plus-14 K-D differential for Liquid.
After BIG registered a 13-7 victory on Anubis, SAW captured Ancient 13-5 and Inferno 13-11. Michel “ewjerkz” Pinto led SAW’s all-Portuguese squad with 54 kills and a plus-11 kill-death differential.
The remaining six play-in matches are scheduled for Friday:
–Upper-bracket second round: MIBR vs. 9z Team
–Lower-bracket first round: Imperial Esports vs. paiN Gaming
–Lower-bracket second round: BIG vs. Team Falcons
–Lower-bracket second round: FURIA Esports vs. HEROIC
–Lower-bracket second round: Eternal Fire vs. The MongolZ
–Lower-bracket second round: MIBR/9z Team loser vs. Imperial Esports/paiN Gaming winner
Intel Extreme Masters Cologne prize pool, with money and BLAST Premier points
1. $400,000, 3,000 points
2. $180,000, 2,000 points
3-4. $80,000, 1,200 points
5-6. $40,000, 500 points
7-8. $24,000, 300 points
9-12. $16,000, no points
13-16. $10,000, no points
17-20. $4,500, no points
21-24. $2,500, no points — ALTERNATE aTTaX, 3DMAX, FlyQuest, one team TBD
–Field Level Media
