IEM Cologne Major Live Blog Stage 3 – Day 4

We’re in the business end of Stage 3 now. Six teams are playing for their lives at IEM Cologne Major today, including a stand-off between MOUZ and FUT. Both teams could easily be playing for the playoffs if the seeding were different, yet today one of them goes home.

On the qualification side of things, the team with the most pressure has to be 9z. After throwing their chance against Spirit yesterday, they must see this game against Aurora as an unmissable opportunity.

One thing is for sure, we’re getting fireworks today. Welcome back to the rdy.gg 🔴 live blog.

⌚ 23:00 CEST

NAVI 1-2 Team Falcons

Dodged a bullet there, eh Falcons? Sheesh.

This series epitomised what this Falcons team is all about. Brilliance followed by a dud, followed by an overtime thriller for the ages. It’s like the world's most oscillating rollercoaster, but you can’t deny it’ entertaining. What you can say is that it’s hard to consider them real trophy contenders while they keep this habit up, but beating NAVI today is a great start to building to something bigger. It’s just going to require NiKo to up his floor in this roster construction, a 0.74 rating on any map from someone that talented is hard to make up for when your IGL cannot frag at any real volume.

As for NAVI, some concern has to be brewing.

They’re definitely a better team than Falcons right now, and failing to convert this game is going to seriously sting. Especially with G2 waiting for them tomorrow, which isn't exactly a guaranteed win. If they end up not making the playoffs this will be the moment that ends this NAVI roster’s run. Because changes will be coming.

Still, there’s a game to be played tomorrow, so we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves. For now we congratulate Falcons, and hopefully they keep providing entertaining CS in the playoffs.

⌚ 20:45 CEST

G2 2-0 Legacy

Good work G2, that’s what we wanted to see.

huNter- must have read our pre-match piece because on map one he was fragging like his career depended on it. He had 20 kills in 20 rounds in the opener of Dust2, being instrumental in their CT hold. Legacy looked entirely incapable of breaking them down. The performance was even better on Overpass, they played a really successful T-side followed by a flawless CT half.

Unfortunately for Legacy, they were as bad as G2 were good.

arT’s T-sides today were hopeless, and while the aforementioned huNter- performance didn’t help, they let him do that to them. There was just no solid structure of trading, and none of their players could get online as a consequence. This is a far cry from the team we saw only a month ago in Atlanta and at CAC.

Legacy’s tier 1 free trial has expired, and they’re going to need to change their payment method if they want to stay up here.

⌚ 19:30 CEST

Team Vitality 2-0 BetBoom Team

Well, they got it done, but that’s not the Vitality we know.

It started off perfect for the world's best team, taking care of Overpass with relative ease. Even Nuke was under control for most of the game, but their T-side just looked flat. Their defaults were messy, and apEX seemed very on edge throughout. He was yelling at his players during round starts and needed to calm himself down. They needed the very final round of regulation to close Nuke out in the end. All of this despite ZywOo looking outrageous, dropping a combined 54 kills between both maps.

Hey, a win is a win at the end of the day. Playoffs are a new day and a new chance for Vitality to dominate.

Though for BetBoom, that went from a game there was no shame in losing, to a chance not taken.

Getting it all the way to one round off OT, just to lose it in the end stings. Even if it’s Vitality, they’ve shown that they do in fact bleed. That said, if we're keeping it realistic, BetBoom’s best chance to qualify for the playoffs was tomorrow from the moment they lost to FURIA. If they can keep their confidence from taking a hit, the extra practice might help them in the end.

Let’s just hope for everyone’s sake that they do make it out, because otherwise this has gone from an underdog-heavy Major to the usual suspects.

⌚ 18:50 CEST

Aurora 2-0 9z

Hats off Aurora, that is one hell of a way to make the playoffs.

Aurora’s gameplan made this red-hot 9z team look worse than ordinary. On 9z’s own map pick of Nuke they won 13-1. THIRTEEN to ONE. The series was effectively over within 15 minutes, because 9z never recovered. MAJ3R’s IGLing at this event has been wildly impressive.

Congratulations to Aurora for qualifying to the playoffs.

If you’re a 9z fan, this is the worst case scenario.

They were 2-0, hell they were one round away from making it to the playoffs TWICE. Now they’ve sunk all the way back down to the 2-2 bracket, with a tough match likely coming their way. It’s going to take a lot of mental fortitude not to let that affect your game tomorrow. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, but they need a real turnaround from what they showed today.

9z, get some good food, get some good rest, because you cannot let this slip now.

⌚ 18:45 CEST Upcoming elimination match

❕ G2 vs Legacy

There is no excuse for G2 if they lose here.

Look, obviously Legacy are a great team who have been in amazing form pre-Major, and to their credit they’ve carried that into the earlier parts of this event. None of that should matter to G2 though. Their roster is far too good to be in Legacy conversations. Even if dumau and latto completely frag out, heavygod, MATYS, and NertZ should frag harder. It should cost HuNter- his job if this isn't a win for G2.

What should encourage G2 is that Legacy have stopped taking big scalps.

They showed us in Atlanta that they do better as the scrappy underdog with no expectation. Now people know what to look for, they’ve been pretty tame against the better teams. Presumably because teams are more prepared for arT’s front foot style of play. Something he’s historically struggled to counter. This might seem reductive to Legacy, but it isn’t meant to be. This is simply setting the stage for the expectations, and Legacy are no strangers to upsetting those.

G2 cannot let that happen to them, legacies are on the line, ironically.

⌚ 18:45 CEST Upcoming qualification match

❕ Natus Vincere vs Team Falcons

This is a real heavyweight bout for a playoff spot. Whoever plays the loser of this game in the next round will feel hard done by.

Both teams are in a similar position at this event, with slightly different routes to get there.

NAVI hit a peak coming into the Major, dethroning Vitality in Atlanta right beforehand. Yet so far they’ve lacked their usual sharpness. They got dispatched by Spirit in game one, and would have lost to The MongolZ yesterday if not for a great comeback to force OT on map 2.

On the opposing side, Falcons are on the rise.

karrigan has solved quite a few of Falcons issues by just being himself. He’s giving kyousuke a platform to trade, microing where needed, and solidifying their CT. What he hasn’t quite solved yet, is the general polish in their game. There’s still quite a few missed nades, badly spaced rounds, and misreads. NiKo hasn’t managed to quite find consistency either.

Just don’t take that as criticism, Falcons are clearly on their way up. They’re just not ready to win an event yet.

If either team can win this game convincingly, it could alter the playoff picture significantly.

⌚ 17:20 Qualification matches:

❕ BetBoom vs Vitality

This has to be a win for Vitality.

If they lose another game, their status as favourites will seriously be in question. It’s been a long time since they’ve really looked mortal, but so far at Cologne teams have managed to draw blood.

Now, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. If this is a comfortable 2-0, regular programming will resume.

What’s especially going to give Vitality some confidence is that BetBoom looked nervous at the end of their game yesterday.

Some chinks in the armour started to show in ways we haven’t seen. If Vitality can just find one of those weaknesses, they’ll exploit it endlessly. These are ruthless killers after all. So BetBoom need to show their absolute A-game to even have a chance.

Do we think it’s likely? No. It’s a 2-0 if Vitality show up

❕ Aurora Gaming vs 9z

This has to be 9z’s game.

Not because they’re the favourites, in fact they’re probably not. No, they need to win this because otherwise all their hard work might be for nothing. A loss here will solidify a slip from 2-0 to 2-2, with a likely matchup against a top team. At that point, it’s going to be hard to recover.

9z will absolutely back themselves to win this, but it won’t be easy.

Aurora have generally looked good at this Major so far. Their only loss came at the hands of Spirit who have been electric in Cologne, and even then they gave them a real run for their money. If Wicadia or MAJ3R perform alongside XANTARES, this could be a great shot at the playoffs. There are no more easy games here, and this is as favoured as they’re going to get.

We wouldn’t dare predict a winner, but it’s going to be a slugfest.

⌚ 17:10 CEST

MOUZ 1-2 FUT

That was the FUT we’ve been waiting to see.

What an incredible game from the youngest team at the Major. They were in MOUZ’s heads for all three maps, but especially Ancient had some exceptional calling. You could tell FUT were gaining more and more confidence as the rounds went on. That confidence unlocked FUT’s ability to play their in-your-face brand of CS we’ve seen so far in the earlier stages. Despite losing Nuke, it wasn’t even a bad performance. It’s far and away their worst map, yet they kept it close and did a great job at times.

Not everything can be chalked up to FUT’s performance though.

MOUZ were uncharacteristically sloppy. So many rounds were thrown by poor decision making that it swung the game entirely. On the last round of Ancient, they failed to hold map control on the B-side of the map, giving FUT all the info on their A play. If that was a Faceit stack, there’d be yelling about that. Let alone the highest level of pro play.

MOUZ should have made a roster decision earlier, because this was a wasted cycle.

⌚ 17:00 CEST

The MongolZ 2-1 Monte

Monte are eliminated, probably in a more disappointing way than they could even have predicted.

Two games now Monte have taken a map, and made the games close. Yet they have failed to finish their dinner. It’s a shame for them that their journey ends this way. Especially because they've generally been pretty impressive at this event.

The MongolZ will not feel sorry for them though.

They showed fortitude coming back from being down a map. Keeping it clinical on their CT-side Inferno. Monte seemed out of solutions at times, which is praise to The MongolZ more than it is shade to them. This was the performance they needed to keep themselves in the Major, but it might not be enough to qualify for the play-off.

The real work starts now.

Full list of today's games

Low matches

• 14:00 CEST - MOUZ vs FUT
• 14:00 CEST - MongolZ vs Monte
• 19:00 CEST - G2 vs Leagcy

MOUZ vs FUT

What better way to start the day than a high stakes game of elimination Counter-Strike?

While FUT have been unlucky with the teams they faced, that’s no excuse here. They’re at the big boy table and need to carry themselves accordingly. This is their chance to beat a traditionally big name, and put themselves a game away from the Lanxess arena.

Meanwhile, in the MOUZ camp, you have to question how this roster is going to face adversity. It’s basically a dead team with two stand-ins. It’s been done before, sure, but you can’t help but feel that if they go down a map heads will drop. Especially given their track record in bright lights being quite poor. To say the least.

This is an opportunity to turn the fortunes around for both sides, now we just need to see who takes the first step.

The MongolZ vs Monte

Both teams have very similar results so far this Major, but expectations change the narrative massively.

For The MongolZ this has been disappointing. They took a map off NAVI, and credit to them for that, but as soon as NAVI started to gain momentum the belief started evaporating rapidly. This side seems to lack a touch of resilience at times, and with rumours of a potential change soon, that might be playing on their minds.

On the Monte side however, they can’t be too upset with how this has gone.

Most people would have told you Monte were an easy 0-3, yet they beat PARIVISION 2-0 and kept Falcons honest yesterday. Unfortunately, similarly to the MongolZ, they couldn’t stay composed when crunch time came around. Their Mirage CT-side just fell flat and you could see the nerves chip away at their polish. It stings especially hard, because Mirage has been by far the most CT-sided map of this event.

Predicting a winner here is like a coinflip, but whoever does win will have an even harder job in the 2-2 game.

High matches

• 16:30 CEST - BetBoom Team vs Team Vitality
• 16:30 CEST- Aurora Gaming vs 9z
• 19:00 CEST - NAVI vs Team Falcons