IEM Cologne team list finalized: 12 highest-ranked squads in competition

8-7-2021 00:24

As the Play-In phase has been concluded, ESL revealed the bracket draw for the group stage which sees Gambit face MOUZ in the first round.

MOUZ and Spirit were the two last teams to advance from the IEM Cologne Play-In on Wednesday, completing the 16-team list of competitors for the main stage of the $1,000,000 tournament.

Ninjas in Pyjamas, BIG, Complexity, and Vitality are some of the name that also qualified throught the play-in, joining the likes of Gambit, Natus Vincere, and G2 who were invited directly to the main stage. With that, 14 of the 15 best-ranked teams in the world are at IEM Cologne, with only OG missing out after an upset loss to Renegades.

Gambit play the first game of the main stage vs. mouz

Unlike the Play-In, the group stage of IEM Cologne won't feature BO1 matches, with the action starting off with Gambit - MOUZ and Liquid - Ninjas in Pyjamas clashing in BO3 series on Thursday. Alongside them, four more teams are in group A: Virtus.pro, BIG, G2, and Complexity.

Read more: Back to LAN: five key storylines of IEM Cologne

The biggest surprise of Cologne, scrappy underdogs Renegades (ranked No. 50) will face Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and co. in their first match, while Lucas "⁠honda⁠" Cano will have his LAN debut against Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut's Vitality. The two Danish sides, Astralis and HEROIC, will play their first matches on Friday, against FaZe and Spirit, respectively.

The group bracket draw is as follows:

Group A

13:30 Gambit vs. MOUZ (Thursday)
13:30 Liquid vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas (Thursday)
16:45 Virtus.pro vs. BIG (Thursday)
16:45 G2 vs. Complexity (Thursday)

Group B

20:00 Natus Vincere vs. Renegades (Thursday)
20:00 FURIA vs. Vitality (Thursday)
13:30 Astralis vs. FaZe (Friday)
13:30 HEROIC vs. Spirit (Friday)

A double-elimination format will be used for the group stage, with three teams from each group advancing to the playoffs. Group winners will advance directly to the semi-finals, while the runners-up will face off against runners-up from the other group in the round-of-six.

Nice

2021-07-08 00:25

19 replies

Omg what a performance from chrisJ

2021-07-08 00:26

8 replies

this will be so ez 4 zywoo

2021-07-08 00:28

3 replies

zywoo onliner

2021-07-08 00:29

Denmark!!

2021-07-08 00:38

1 reply

2021-07-08 00:57

godj

LANJ

2021-07-08 01:00

2021-07-08 01:43

+1 chrisj MVP of PGL Stockholm Major.

2021-07-08 02:18

NaVi will lose

2021-07-08 00:27

Funny they put 4 of top 6 teams in group A just to make it easier for NaVi.

2021-07-08 01:34

7 replies

Nah first round chokers Renegades are gonna send them to LB

2021-07-08 06:08

NaVi was always gonna shit both on G2 and NiP. There are zero top teams in Group A apart from Gambit. The only team NaVi would lose is Gambit but they couldn’t play on Day 1 :)

2021-07-08 07:40

Heroic will be a problem, since they are still onliners and playing from bootcamp...

2021-07-08 09:14

4 replies

No, they are playing on the same LAN, from their hotel rooms.

2021-07-08 11:14

Its basically the same, only thing that changed is the room

2021-07-08 11:57

2 replies

The main aspects of online were high ping (peeker's advantage), packet corruptions, packet losses, bugs and cheats, non-uniform gaming PCs, etc. In this case, everyone is on almost 0 ping, no packet losses or corruptions, no bugs and cheats, same PCs for everyone, etc. It is literally a LAN connection. I agree that it's not ideal, but it's still definitely LAN.

2021-07-08 12:01

No crowd so it doesn't even matter

2021-07-08 13:33

Yeah the boys!

2021-07-08 02:29

Lez Go!

I WAS HERE

2021-07-08 13:03

GLHF

GAAAA lets go

FaZe Time!

pls help guys I have slow internet and I want watch all matches

5 replies

Watch from youtube

2021-07-08 01:08

watch highlights on YT by matz, don't go to the comment section

2021-07-08 05:15

Watch hltv live feed

2021-07-08 06:22

2021-07-08 08:50

Watch highlights from Fraakarts yt

2021-07-08 08:02

ez for endpoint

agony

Gambit > mouse Liquid < Nip Vp > big G2 > compl Navi > renegades Furia < vitality Astralis > faze Heroic > spirit

2021-07-08 00:35

17 replies

Yes No Yes No No Yes No Yes

2021-07-08 01:02

6 replies

2021-07-08 01:21

2021-07-08 01:29

Lets see who was more right

2021-07-08 01:30

G2 gonna lose vs comp? Nice joke. Ur probably still think niko was the problem.

2021-07-08 09:16

flair

2021-07-08 12:55

niko not only was, but still IS the problem

2021-07-09 21:12

YES NO 50/50 YES YES 50/50 50/50 50/50

2021-07-08 02:21

Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes

2021-07-08 06:40

Head to head Vp 4 - 9 BIG Also BIG will play better as the tournament is in Germany

2021-07-08 09:30

Yea big game will be risky one

2021-07-08 09:34

gg bro

2021-07-08 19:55

yea, this was the riskiest choise, im not a betting man so its fine tho.

2021-07-08 20:07

Gambit > Mouz NiP > Liquid (But close series) Big > Vp G2 > CoL NaVi > RNG Vitality > Furia FaZe > Astralis Heroic > Spirit (but prob the closest series of them all, 50/50 IMO)

2021-07-08 11:05

as a FaZe fan i hope that they win - but the odds are againts them in my mind.

2021-07-08 11:23

No doubt in my mind. This is the best possible matchup FaZe could have got except Furia, Astralis with no key awper been struggling and I don't think LAN will make them any better, maybe a bit in terms of confedence and a refreshing feeling but I think FaZe should have the edge overall and I see a pretty convincing win for them.

2021-07-08 14:11

they played well few days ago, im expecting that xyp will improve now

2021-07-08 14:12

OG LMAOOO

2021-07-08 00:37

Everything fucked up, am I right?

2021-07-08 01:07

sadge i have 4 tests next week will have to watch it from eventvods.com :(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

#sponsored

2021-07-08 08:16

lol not really, i hope they are not on a hiatus tho because i will end it all if i have to spoil it.

2021-07-08 10:22

i miss NA cs..

man navi rly got lucky with the bracket like if they won't choke it's free pass to the semi final

Someone had to get the matchup. I'm hoping for a liquid v navi final so GL to them!

2021-07-08 00:40

+1 Btw pls liquid rekt NiP, thank u will be cheering for u

2021-07-08 00:50

Thx mens, G2 will rek BaitF and Bot Rush, Godfig can only do so much Niko looked crisp on FPL

2021-07-08 02:22

+1 liquid vs navi is always insane

2021-07-08 05:41

Navi ez

2021-07-08 01:15

Go, go Spirit!

2021-07-08 00:39

they forgot to put fnatic in the pic with the teams lol oh nvm.. 😢

2021-07-08 00:41

Awesome matchups

So between Gambit, NiP, Mouz, and Liquid one of them is guaranteed to bomb out :(

2021-07-08 00:42

In order of least likely to most Gambit Liquid NiP Mousesports

2021-07-08 02:23

Gambit Nip Big G2 Na'vi Vitality Faze Spirit To win their opening matches 😁

2021-07-08 00:47

So excited to see Gambıt in actıon!

2021-07-08 00:48

damn could be world's 16 best teams if OG didn't fail to qualify

No, you forgot about Entropiq instead of Faze edit: Changed Renegades on Faze

I'm not talking about rankings, imo FaZe is better than Entropiq

Its sad they didnt invite any top 10 teams for cologne this year

2021-07-08 02:49

2021-07-08 02:58

we don't know how good Entropiq will be on LAN against the best teams, also they sadly fail in the most important matches FaZe, at the same time, have players with huge amount of experience on top level which showed what they are capable of many times. Also most of their recent online losses were really close and could have gone other way. After all, its just my opinion

2021-07-08 12:22

You can have your opinion and i have all the respect you deserve for you and your opinion but i thing youre wrong Krad an Forester have big lan experience (they played a major) and the 3 others members did a lot of T2 lan So i think that they can stay that good i Lan ! Wish you a good day

2021-07-08 12:28

Kek

2021-07-08 05:32

Furia take this

2021-07-08 00:52

If OG would've made it we would have the top 15 teams in the world Damn

Nice lets go FURIAAAA lets go teacher FalleN take my energy boysss

2021-07-08 00:56

4 teams from cis...

2021-07-08 00:58

Renegades upset Navi

Renegades gonna show who is real top 12

2021-07-08 01:04

Renegades 2-1 Natus Vincere Renegades 2-1 FURIA Renegades 2-1 Heroic ez

2021-07-08 01:12

Tough time for onliners... No wonder if Gambit loose their first match, chance for mouz!!!

2021-07-08 01:13

See you online Mouze... fcking LANERS

2021-07-08 11:17

scheduling two matches at the same time is ridiculous for the Cologne!

Seriously what the fucking fuck. Gambit v Mouse and NiP v Liquid are both fucking insane, why both?

2021-07-08 02:24

lol navi lucky

Ez 4 sOmple

of course botus vincere get the lowest seeded team :))) ahhaha and of course they got the easiest bracket.

2021-07-08 01:24

Lul they need those s0mple fanboys or else, if they matched with Liquid or Gambit itd be gg

Group B has Vitality, Navi, Heroic, Spirit, LAN Astralis, and Furia is also a great team. How is that easy? Group A has Gambit, but it's their first ever LAN. They might need some time to adjust. Liquid has not really hung with Top-tier EU competition, since last year. They haven't even gone beyond Top4 in any EU event. G2 and CoL are fine teams.

2021-07-08 05:36

Gambit > Mouse Liquid X Nip Vp < Big G2 > compl Navi > renegades Furia X Vitality Astralis > Faze Heroic > spirit

2021-07-08 01:19

2021-07-08 09:31

Too many bangers

2021-07-08 01:28

Gambit < Mouz (close match ) My flair xD Liquid > NIP (Liquid back on track ) VP < BIG ( IDK BIG kinda seem like playing really good) G2 > Col (only konfig can save them ) Navi > renegades ( Speedrun) Furia > Vita ( spicy match ) Ast < Faze ( I have no idea favored faze cause ast no awp) Heroic > Spirit ( if heroic play like they usually do . gg) LAN PepeLaugh

2021-07-08 01:32

Seems about right except for Furia Vita match, I still think Zywoo will carry.

2021-07-08 02:19

13th is OG lol

2021-07-08 03:34

EZ4NAVI

2021-07-08 03:50

Shhhhh mouz cs gambit…I scared

2021-07-08 04:09

GL Vitality 🔥Kyojin GL Na'Vi 🔥b1t333 GL Heroic 🔥 teses

2021-07-08 04:33

Let's go G2!!!!

2021-07-08 04:59

of course renegades against navi first

2021-07-08 05:02

Yeah tough af for the boys but on the bright side, there's no risk of going out without having the chance to face the best!

2021-07-08 11:04

Fuck OG, should have given the spot to entropiq or forze

2021-07-08 05:34

Group A is stacked while group B is a cakewalk for NaVi Why are the groups so imbalanced

2021-07-08 05:37

+What a joke

2021-07-08 05:48

No it’s not. Group A is a walking cakewalk. Apart from Gambit, NiP and G2 (very debatable) exactly zero consistent top teams

2021-07-08 07:45

>gambit >inconsistent choose one

2021-07-08 07:55

You Are Dumb Learn to read

2021-07-08 08:52

flag checks out Just going by the HLTV rankings Group A is much stronger, while teams like mouz and liquid havent played many tournaments hence their rankings are lower than they should be. While Group B even has renegades a tier 3 team

2021-07-08 08:18

Hltv rankings lol. Mouz and TL is not some top tier opposition. Calm down. As I said there is exactly two consistent top teams in Group A with G2 being somewhere around 50/50 Mouz is only considered good by ropzstans on hltv

2021-07-08 08:55

is this with crowd?

2021-07-08 06:24

2021-07-08 06:35

And in the final?

2021-07-08 09:09

2021-07-08 20:14

Feels bad for NA cs, very dead only one team

2021-07-08 07:08

GAMBIT VS MOUZ GONNA BE SUPERHOT!!!! How will Gambit manage on LAN????? Million dollar question, I guess we'll find out today....

2021-07-08 07:48

Gambit > mousesports Liquid < NIP Virtus.pro > BIG G2 > Complexity Natus Vincere > Renegades FURIA > Vitality Astralis < FaZe Heroic < Spirit

Almost everything wrong xD

2021-07-08 08:47

We will see :)

2021-07-08 10:20

Final Gambit vs NaVi again.. boring

2021-07-08 07:59

Gambit on LAN? I aren't think that

2021-07-08 08:45

What a pog tournament. I can feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins. Let's GO Faze Clan. Let's take down Gambot Navi.....

2021-07-08 08:46

Lets go Vitality

Looks sick.

Mouz always seems to draw the shortest stick, RIP. One of the final matches yesterday and one of the first matches today against the best team in the world.

2021-07-08 09:06

Let's go, Team Spirit!

2021-07-08 09:25

Go NAVI and s1m "goat" ple

oof

2021-07-08 09:52

OMEGALUL G ONLINER GAMERS

2021-07-08 10:45

Go the Renegades!!

2021-07-08 11:11

7 Aussies! Woohoo!

Honestly I think it's going to be a huge surprise this event, I think Heroic is taking this one, I think it's going to surprise a lot of ppl, but they had a lot of time to prepare, and I think they are going to get that one.

2021-07-08 18:20