ViCi, TeamOne sent packing in Cologne

Evil Geniuses and Sprout move on in the Play-in lower bracket and are set to play for spots at the main event at the end of the second day.

ViCi and TeamOne have been eliminated from the IEM Cologne Play-in in last place following losses to Evil Geniuses and Sprout, respectively, in the tournament's lower bracket.

With spots at the main event on the line in the final round of the Play-in stage, the North American side will face MOUZ in one of the highlight matches of the event in a few hours at 20:00 , while the Germans are set to lock horns with Spirit at the same time.

As perhaps the biggest underdog and by far the lowest-ranked team in attendance following a year of play in Asia, ViCi struggled as they exited the tournament without winning a single map. Having first taken Complexity to double digits in the opening round, the Chinese side suffered a tough defeat at the hands of Evil Geniuses in the lower bracket, with the Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz-led side controlling the match from start to finish with 16-5 and 16-7 victories.

Over on the secondary broadcast in the other series, it was a much more closely-contested affair between TeamOne and Sprout. The Brazilians opened things up on the right foot as they secured a narrow victory on their Nuke pick and looked to close it in two after getting off to a good start on Dust2, but they missed their opportunity to finish off the match from a 12-8 lead, as Fritz "⁠slaxz-⁠" Dietrich played spoiler with a standout performance on the other side to take it to map three.

From there, Sprout had it all under control on Mirage, clinching a commanding victory on the decider on the back of a near-flawless defense, staying alive at their home tournament to set up a spot-deciding match against Spirit later on Wednesday.