IEM Sydney opening matches recap

Seven favorites have won their opening games to begin their IEM Sydney campaign while BIG shocked MOUZ in 30 rounds.

Two double-elimination groups, each featuring eight teams, kicked off the action at IEM Sydney. In Group A, Liquid got past BOOT-d[S] without much trouble as the North Americans put on a strong performance on the T-side on Nuke, winning it with a 16-9 scoreline.

In a tight affair, BIG got the better of MOUZ without Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş, taking the victory in 30 rounds on Inferno. Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz topped the scoreboard with 33 kills and a 1.72 rating while Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker could only get five kills.

Liquid will take on BIG in the next round

Renegades and Ninjas in Pyjamas secured 16-13 victories against MVP PK and eUnited, respectively, to advance to the upper-bracket semi-finals where they will meet each other in a best-of-three.

In Group B, FaZe managed to defeat Chiefs with ease despite fielding two stand-ins, winning 16-5 on Dust2. NRG were equally as comfortable, beating ViCi 16-4 on Mirage to become FaZe's opponents in the next round.

The other two games in the group featured fnatic and MIBR who respectively got past HEROIC and Grayhound to remain in the upper-bracket.

The brackets at IEM Sydney now look as follows:

Group A

Upper-bracket
Liquid vs. BIG
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Renegades
Lower-bracket
BOOT-d[S] vs. MOUZ
eUnited vs. MVP PK

Group B

Upper-bracket
FaZe vs. NRG
fnatic vs. MIBR
Lower-bracket
Chiefs vs. ViCi
HEROIC vs. Grayhound