IEM Cologne 2021 Play-inFaZe, BIG through to main event, MIBR out in Germany
Only four spots in the IEM Cologne group stage are left up for grabs as the first day of the Play-in stage concludes.
FaZe and BIG have secured berths in the main event at IEM Cologne following victories over Complexity and OG in the Play-in stage's upper bracket semi-finals, respectively. Meanwhile, MIBR are the second team to be eliminated from the tournament, with Renegades moving on in the lower bracket at their expense.
It was a rough day in the office for the Brazilians, who will undoubtedly leave the event contemplating all the 'what-ifs' after missing several opportunities to pick up wins in Cologne. Gustavo "yel" Knittel's squad entered the event with a double-overtime loss to Spirit despite having seven cahnces to close the opening match and went on to suffer a similarly heartbreaking loss to Renegades just hours later, unable to close out 15-11 and 13-10 leads on Vertigo and Mirage against the Australian side.
FaZe have maintained impressive form throughout the first day of the Play-in stage in the meantime, having first brought down Evil Geniuses in the opening round before putting on a rather convincing display against Complexity in a 2-0 series to lock down their spot in the main event group stage.
"I think the nerves faded mostly, for me it varies per map because I have a lot of new spots," Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken said after the match on the topic of shaking off the nerves after FaZe's opening win. "I feel like I have a little bit of pressure on me to perform in my spots, especially on LAN now, but after the opening match I'm feeling pretty great."
Having passed a historically tricky local Sprout matchup without any issues, BIG went up against OG in the second round and sent the European side down to the lower bracket despite Valdemar "valde" Bjørn Vangså's best efforts to turn Mirage around with perhaps the biggest standout performance of the day.
Day two of the Play-in will see four more teams make it through to the next stage and six teams sent packing, with TeamOne-Sprout and Evil Geniuses-ViCi kicking off the second day at 13:30 .
 FaZe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37 - 26 | +11 | 77.1 | 82.4% | 1.28 | |
| 44 - 33 | +11 | 90.0 | 70.6% | 1.27 | |
| 33 - 26 | +7 | 63.6 | 72.5% | 1.11 | |
| 37 - 39 | -2 | 85.4 | 66.7% | 1.08 | |
| 32 - 31 | +1 | 62.7 | 68.6% | 0.93 |
  Complexity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 - 38 | +1 | 81.3 | 60.8% | 1.11 | |
| 40 - 38 | +2 | 86.0 | 64.7% | 1.10 | |
| 31 - 36 | -5 | 74.4 | 72.5% | 1.02 | |
| 25 - 36 | -11 | 54.5 | 58.8% | 0.76 | |
| 17 - 36 | -19 | 38.5 | 64.7% | 0.65 |
  BIG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 57 - 31 | +26 | 87.4 | 83.6% | 1.49 | |
| 50 - 39 | +11 | 98.5 | 68.9% | 1.32 | |
| 40 - 38 | +2 | 79.9 | 75.4% | 1.14 | |
| 40 - 41 | -1 | 71.5 | 70.5% | 1.06 | |
| 30 - 38 | -8 | 53.9 | 65.6% | 0.85 |
 OG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56 - 36 | +20 | 90.2 | 72.1% | 1.29 | |
| 39 - 43 | -4 | 69.8 | 67.2% | 1.01 | |
| 32 - 44 | -12 | 65.1 | 59.0% | 0.84 | |
| 33 - 48 | -15 | 64.4 | 63.9% | 0.75 | |
| 27 - 47 | -20 | 56.5 | 54.1% | 0.64 |
  MIBR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47 - 40 | +7 | 77.4 | 70.3% | 1.17 | |
| 47 - 45 | +2 | 73.0 | 67.2% | 1.05 | |
| 35 - 41 | -6 | 70.2 | 62.5% | 0.95 | |
| 37 - 37 | 0 | 64.3 | 64.1% | 0.92 | |
| 30 - 40 | -10 | 61.5 | 65.6% | 0.87 |
 Renegades |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51 - 42 | +9 | 78.0 | 64.1% | 1.19 | |
| 37 - 34 | +3 | 75.1 | 76.6% | 1.14 | |
| 37 - 40 | -3 | 73.5 | 65.6% | 0.98 | |
| 40 - 42 | -2 | 64.9 | 68.8% | 0.96 | |
| 37 - 39 | -2 | 58.8 | 70.3% | 0.91 |
Andrew 'kaze' Khong
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhev
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doMK0
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