IEM Cologne 2021 Play-inropz, frozen star as mouz defeat EG; Spirit outlast Sprout at IEM Cologne Play-In
MOUZ' duo showed up to secure their team a spot at the main stage of IEM Cologne.
With a 2-0 win over Evil Geniuses, MOUZ have advanced from the IEM Cologne Play-In, while Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz and co. will be heading into the tournament break early.
"ropz held it together", Christopher "dexter" Nong said in the post-match interview, praising his teammate's heroics on Nuke. The Estonian picked up an ace to win a 2v5 early on kept delivering as the map progressed, ending two frags shy of a 40 bomb in the 16-12 win.
David "frozen" Čerňanský picked up on Inferno where Robin "ropz" Kool left off on Nuke, securing 14 kills in the first six rounds. Regardless, Evil Geniuses weren't going to be pushed over so easily on their map pick, claiming an 8-7 lead as Terrorists by halftime, but they fell apart after the switch as MOUZ claimed nine in a row to take the win.
In the final game of the Play-In, Sprout put up a respectable showing, but Spirit was able to withstand the pressure and take a 2-1 victory that qualifies them for the group stage. The Germans didn't look too threatening on Ancient (16-10 for Spirit), but the following two maps came down to the wire.
Fritz "slaxz-" Dietrich's AWPing presence allowed his team to snatch away Dust2, 16-14, bringing over the momentum to Nuke where Sprout went up 8-2 as T. A bit of individual brilliance from Abdul "degster" Gasanov gave a lifeline to Spirit who made the most of it and completed the comeback, 16-13.
 MOUZ |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55 - 33 | +22 | 117.1 | 78.8% | 1.63 | |
| 42 - 29 | +13 | 90.9 | 76.9% | 1.37 | |
| 40 - 31 | +9 | 81.0 | 65.4% | 1.18 | |
| 28 - 28 | 0 | 52.6 | 69.2% | 0.93 | |
| 28 - 35 | -7 | 61.1 | 71.2% | 0.90 |
  Evil Geniuses |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38 - 39 | -1 | 76.4 | 67.3% | 1.05 | |
| 33 - 41 | -8 | 72.6 | 57.7% | 0.94 | |
| 31 - 38 | -7 | 73.7 | 65.4% | 0.92 | |
| 29 - 40 | -11 | 64.6 | 51.9% | 0.74 | |
| 22 - 36 | -14 | 48.4 | 65.4% | 0.74 |
  Spirit |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 - 52 | +20 | 93.7 | 81.2% | 1.36 | |
| 66 - 45 | +21 | 75.5 | 72.9% | 1.23 | |
| 58 - 54 | +4 | 69.9 | 69.4% | 1.08 | |
| 47 - 50 | -3 | 69.3 | 72.9% | 1.02 | |
| 47 - 56 | -9 | 62.3 | 68.2% | 0.92 |
 Sprout |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 - 57 | +3 | 75.2 | 63.5% | 1.02 | |
| 51 - 52 | -1 | 62.8 | 69.4% | 0.97 | |
| 53 - 61 | -8 | 70.7 | 67.1% | 0.94 | |
| 48 - 60 | -12 | 64.5 | 55.3% | 0.83 | |
| 44 - 62 | -18 | 57.7 | 60.0% | 0.75 |
| 
| 
TheBigSAM
| 
mrturtle4769
| 
Tr3jx_S
Astralis_6_majors
| 
| 
Lawless_Heaven
| 
williamhsk1
| 
AtPdTrZ
