IEM Cologne reaches playoffs

12-7-2021 01:37

The event in Germany will resume on Friday when the playoffs get underway.

IEM Cologne, the first big LAN event in over a year, has reached the playoff stage, where the final six teams in the tournament remain standing in the fight for the trophy.

The two quarter-final matches will be played on Friday, kicking off a weekend of playoff action that will continue with two semi-final matches on Saturday and the best-of-five grand final on Sunday.

FaZe beat expectations in Cologne and made the top six

The first quarter-final on Friday will pit Virtus.pro against Astralis after the Danes were unable to take out Natus Vincere in the Group B upper bracket final, while the second quarter-final of the day will feature the world's top team in the world ranking, Gambit, going up against the only team left from the play-in, FaZe, the tournament's biggest over performers.

The two undefeated group stage winners, G2 and Natus Vincere, will wait for their rivals in the semi-finals, having an extra day off before resuming their charge towards the IEM Cologne title match. The French-Balkan squad is on the side of Virtus.pro and Astralis, while Natus Vincere may go up against their CIS rivals, Gambit, if Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov and company can first overcome FaZe.

The IEM Cologne playoff schedule is:

Friday, July 16

16:00 - Virtus.pro vs. Astralis
19:15 - Gambit vs. FaZe

Saturday, July 17

16:00 - G2 vs. Virtus.pro/ Astralis
19:15 - Natus Vincere vs. Gambit/ FaZe

Sunday, July 18

16:00 - Grand Final (BO5)

eZ for FaZe

2021-07-12 01:38

40 replies

would be pretty cool if they win against gambit

2021-07-12 01:51

26 replies

If they pull that off, it'll be the biggest upset of the year. Every damn match they play is against harder opponents, and they've shocked me every time

2021-07-12 01:59

25 replies

Imagine FaZe winning a tournament just after coldzera leaving. Guess him and niko were the problems after all...

2021-07-12 05:01

22 replies

Seriously. It makes me wonder if they kept cold, could they have performed even better on LAN? Or is the relationship between Karrigan and Olof what's making them perform so well?

2021-07-12 05:06

18 replies

literally the same question in my mind, also notice that coldzera never got to play a major with faze or niko

2021-07-12 06:39

5 replies

glad that onliners like Heroic, BIG, CoL and Vitality are out

2021-07-12 12:05

4 replies

Wasnt BIG #1 at LAN or was it already online?

2021-07-12 13:16

3 replies

Start of online era if i remember correctly

2021-07-12 13:52

Online

2021-07-12 16:18

They did really well, then even better online iirc

2021-07-12 16:25

Maybe it's just a fluke in general? Gambit will 2-0 them and end of fairytale :)

2021-07-12 08:58

7 replies

Probably unfortunately, but I hope not!! Even if that's where it ends, making playoffs over the team's they did makes me very optimistic

2021-07-12 09:25

A decent length fluke if that's the case. They are making less mistakes than FaZe we saw the last 12-18 months.

2021-07-12 10:04

it is fluke mate, lets be honest vitality didnt take faze serious, they thought they will cruise through this stage and win faze 2-0 so they didnt prepare for them, thats why apex posted they beated themselves. i dont see faze making to the finals

2021-07-12 11:15

So vitality didnt work as they should do? In real life you are fired

2021-07-12 11:43

fired? i dont understand you

2021-07-12 12:16

2 replies

You are fired. Because vitality or any team will play any game seriously in cologne.

2021-07-12 15:38

1 reply

You could not have been more wrong...

2021-07-17 12:25

They're performing so well cos Broky is beasting on everyone. He has never put up these numbers before.

2021-07-12 09:54

It's been a team effort, not only Broky performing. Btw Broky tends to disappear when matters, let's see how he does against Gambit.

2021-07-12 11:55

Pretty sure it was just in their last series where he popped off no? I know he had a very difficult entrance to the tournament

2021-07-12 12:49

he did ok in playin but it was only the astralis game where he played like an actual bot I think, but after faze were in lowers he started popping off

2021-07-13 09:48

Idk man cold is pretty fucking good on lan.

2021-07-12 06:08

Let's not get ahead of ourselves amigo. Faze will not be able to beat Navi in the semis even if they get past gambit. Navi are too stronk on LAN. And even if they do, they are yet to beat g2 who are another strong online team

2021-07-12 08:18

NiKo wasn't the problem.They reached play-offs with him almost every event.I don't know if cold was the problem either.The biggest problem was the fragging ability.When rain hits his shots and karrigan doesn't go -30 in a series they can win.

2021-07-12 11:37

CpHF vs Gambit and Akuma vd Na'Vi were bigger upsets.

2021-07-12 07:32

They were only one-time deals though - Faze has beat multiple teams that are way higher than them in the ranks.

2021-07-12 09:52

Biggest upset of the year probably, would be amazing

2021-07-12 01:52

2021-07-12 02:05

Karrigan is by far the best IGL of all time.

2021-07-12 02:49

6 replies

Gla1ve

2021-07-12 03:06

Gla1ve laughing rn

2021-07-12 03:44

Gla1ve here, Laughing my ass off rn ahahahahh

2021-07-12 04:13

I think gla1ve is not tooo strong without Zonic. Zonic best Coach ever, but Gla1ve without him, not the best IGL

2021-07-12 09:43

+1 gla1ve without sonic top2/3 best igl Best igl ever is Zeus, The God

2021-07-12 14:57

gla1ve looks off into the distance, mutters a small "Amatures"

2021-07-12 06:23

It's going to be an extremely tough game for the boys, but even if they lose, i think we all can be extremely happy and proud of the result nevertheless, this has truly been an incredible performace from everyone, can't wait to see what the future holds! Gl to both teams! #FaZeUp

2021-07-12 10:14

Considering they have the newest roster in the top 6. I'm happy either way.

2021-07-12 10:54

+1!

2021-07-12 11:23

2021-07-12 14:52

ez for goat sh1ro

Ez for faZe

Ez for NAVI

2021-07-12 01:39

2021-07-12 10:09

G2 actually has a very high chance to get into a final

true, didn’t expect this

2021-07-12 02:12

And very low chance of winning it because they may end up against gambit or navi maybe faze but its very low chance considering how navi is playing

2021-07-12 03:11

It’s like 0,0001% chance FaZe come through Gambit first and then NaVi, this would be the greatest run ever

2021-07-12 07:12

Yes but I wont count karrigan out

2021-07-12 18:11

Yeah. But their map pool is so ass. Idk how they'll win abo5 vs either Navi or gambit. They gotta hope faze upsets everyone

2021-07-12 08:20

Yes but g2 is a chokemeister. They will not win anything tbh. Hunter nexa amanek jackzzz is not a champion

2021-07-12 15:45

2021-07-12 01:40

cool where da fantasy league at

ez for Akuma

Faze actually has a very high chance to get into a final

They need to win gambit and Na'Vi to get there omegalul delusional faze fan

2021-07-12 07:02

He’s trollin, nobody in a sane mind will expect FaZe in a final

2021-07-12 07:15

S1mple MVP ez

2021-07-12 01:42

faze didnt beat any expectations at leat not mine :)

EZ4G2 AND GOAT SEXA

2021-07-12 01:44

Virtus.pro miracle run here we go

2021-07-12 01:45

Let's go VP the Kings of miracle runs

2021-07-12 01:50

underdog VP > favorites VP

2021-07-12 01:56

Astralis will end their miracle run, again :)

VP beat astralis in Katowice, we will leave the miracle ending to another CIS team if anyone thank you ))

2021-07-12 11:48

lets go FaZe!

Fuck man faze has such a hard bracket but fuckin proud of our boys

Navi with s1mple or g2 with NiKo? Or gambit #1? Or eternal faze beaters astralis? Lmao The only easy team would be vp. Every other team is unbeatable for a faze side

2021-07-12 08:22

“Unbeatable” would have been applicable to literally every other team in this tournament, considering Faze’s poor performance the last few months. So them reaching the play-offs already nullified your argument

2021-07-12 12:31

not really. Complexity? EG? Heroic? all meh teams, even vitality are on a dry streak. Astralis are a good team and u saw waht happened

faze was really shit before this tournament, their plays are so uncoordinated, and they are one of the worst as compared to other teams, them reaching playoff is a miracle tbh

2021-07-12 15:02

Also commendable. They just need to fix their dust2 t side and win more pistol rounds tbh

2021-07-12 15:04

The current favorites for the event are Gambit and Navi, which is why I referenced it as the harder bracket. Though G2 is amazing and has a chance, I don’t see many at all claiming AST or VP as title contenders out of the 6.

2021-07-13 20:18

+1 The future is extremely bright, if we continue on LAN, but i do think they'll still do good online!

2021-07-12 12:53

FaZe really outdid themselves and surprised me. Nice surprise though. I actually like their chance vs Gambit. A young, inexperienced team at LAN. Plus, they are playing a traditional CS so they can be studied. FaZe should expect a normal match, not some crazy FURIA style kind of a game. Good luck.

2021-07-12 01:55

Faze rely too much on inconsistent broky and rain. If they show up it will be an exciting match. Else it's worrying. But the veto favors faze since they permaban gambit's favorite map

2021-07-12 08:35

I don't expect they to win vs Gambit but at least it is not gonna be one-sided match (2-1 for Gambit would be my best bet). They really did the best they could to make it this far. I was expecting 2 losses and they were out. So this is just a confident-boosting match for them. They are still having a lot of problems on T side. They need to work on that.

2021-07-12 17:15

ASTRALIS wins , Gambit wins , G2 and NAVI wins , then NAVI FINAL WIN

Win Cologne Twistz

navi vs g2 final NAVI 3-1 WIN S1MPLE MVP

2021-07-12 01:57

9 replies

G2 wins 3-2 NiKo MVP

2021-07-12 07:33

8 replies

If g2 wins it has to be a 3-0. G2 has such a shit map pool to take it to 5 maps. Especially since Navi permabans vertigo

2021-07-12 08:36

They ve got more chances vs navi. Vs gambit insta 1-0 bcz of vertigo

2021-07-12 11:17

how could it be different to win 3-0 than 3-2 ? Still have to wins your 2 picks and décider assuming no one takes opponent pick...

2021-07-12 14:40

because the 4th and 5th maps will be nuke and ancient most likely, maps that NAVI are comfortably winning in lately

2021-07-12 14:51

Not lately Nuke has been Navi Territory for such a fucking long time now, Almost like its stupid to pick it

2021-07-12 15:00

What maps will g2 pick? Inferno/ancient or mirage. All maps NAVI are great at. Either you win your map picks and dust2(navi pick) or u lose.

2021-07-12 15:01

Yeah ik im just talking about Nuke tho, Nuke hasnt only been comfortable in nuke lately, what im trying to say is nuke is home map for navi for a long time with my poor Scottish

2021-07-12 16:16

What mAngOnice said. That's why it's stupid to say that G2 has to go 3-0 or will loose.... Simply because they will play 1 or 2 navi picks in the first 3 maps. And nuke could be map 1 or 2, depending who vetoes first, you dont know, it doesnt have to be map 4 or 5

2021-07-12 17:25

FAZE LAN >>> ONLINE ERA FINAL G2 - FAZE

Let's go G2, kovac's go kill

why BO5 final ESL braindead?

2021-07-12 02:03

Great job FaZe and let's gooo G2

2021-07-12 02:07

There's too much cope for FaZe fans. It's great that they had made it thus far, but every team they managed to beat so far has been pretty meh. Gambit will steamroll them, because they are neck and ears above FaZe. The same goes for Navi and G2. In fact, all of the teams except VP that are currently in the playoffs are superior to FaZe

They beat the rank 14, 9 and 4 teams in that order. Not bad for rank 38, especially how shit they've been before now.

2021-07-12 02:25

Meh? Heroic,Vitality meh?

2021-07-12 02:27

Heroic barely won against Spirit by incredible luck and chokes from TS, so they are even worse than meh, but Vita are decent

2021-07-12 03:45

can you blame them? after the amount of underwhelming results FaZe has had, they're finally doing well. It's natural for faze fans to be excited.

2021-07-12 06:46

Agreed, just dont want people to overrate their achievements just yet. FaZe is still pretty inconsistent, they got away with being carried by TwistZz and rain this time. I didn't like karrigan's strats at all though. Don't get me wrong, it's a really good result for FaZe already to get into quaters, but there are people out here claiming that "they have good chances against Gambit". Let's not forget that the only team FaZe lost to during this tournament was Astralis. Navi yesterday made Astralis look silly, and Gambit is currently stronger than Navi. Still, CS is a game of inches and a lot depends on luck, so who knows - maybe FaZe can beat Gambit somehow. Just saying that such an outcome is really, REALLY unlikely, unfortunately for FaZe fans

2021-07-12 11:19

Oh they are certainly not overrating shit from results as I can see, they are all very happy with the quarterfinal and know it would be a miracle to make it to the final

Karrigan said before if we can go to playoff we will easily go back to top 10. I think they will beat gambit but still can only get 3-4 prize. Navi will win this tourney, simple mvp

2021-07-12 15:50

no navi - gambit grand final :(

2021-07-12 02:10

Only for online tournaments sorry

2021-07-12 05:30

FaZe hype train chuh-chuh 🚂

2021-07-12 02:16

Katowice 2020 vibes, but still early to judge, gl to all teams!

Indeed, hope Navi gain more momentum in playoffs cuz tbh all of 3 games should've ended as a quick 2-0

2021-07-12 02:28

I think that Gambit will get more monentum instead necause they start from quartets

2021-07-12 07:58

Na`Vi will win final in semis?

hope we get a navi v faze

2021-07-12 02:36

Ez for NaVi

2021-07-12 02:37

FazeUp

2021-07-12 02:47

Lets goooo FaZe, they can play without any worrying now.

2021-07-12 02:56

damnn it's getting spicy faze upp

2021-07-12 03:09

eZaF

Goooo Gambit gl

2021-07-12 03:28

A final without gambit does not :( I was getting used to it

2021-07-12 03:33

you can consider semifinals as a grandfinal

2021-07-12 07:59

winner of semis with NAVI has 90% to win the event, so it's almost a grand-final

2021-07-12 11:26

VP miracle run to CIS final against NaVi/Gambit ? Astralis and G2 are stronk but in VP we belive

2021-07-12 03:41

Let's go G2!!

2021-07-12 04:09

-twistzz +allu -olof +sergej -karrigan +aleksib -broky +xseveN -rain +aerial Easy for FaZe

2021-07-12 04:10

Wow your guide on how to completely destroy a team is really helpful

destroy is an understatement here

2021-07-13 00:21

kappa

2021-07-23 19:50

ez navi

2021-07-12 04:23

Virtus.pro 2:0 Astralis Virtus.pro 2:1 G2 NAVI 3:1 Virtus.pro NAVI 2:1 Gambit Gambit 2:0 FaZe I believe in VP. the team got better on LAN. I think there will be no problems with Astralis, but with G2 the match is 50/50. In the final, in any case, you will have to play with the strongest team in the world, and NAVI is a more convenient opponent, since they do not play Vertigo #GOGOVP

2021-07-12 04:27

#62 we'll see who was closer

2021-07-12 05:33

Fated G2 vs FaZe final would be awesome

2021-07-12 05:00

NA talking shit too much bcoz their one player reached playoffs LUL

2021-07-12 06:20

Weeb stfu

2021-07-12 07:08

cry more NA

2021-07-12 07:55

NA scene >>>>> Weeb scene. Cry is free 🤷🤷

2021-07-12 10:52

VP 1-2 Astralis Gambit 2-0 FaZe G2 2-1 Astralis NaVi 1-2 Gambit Gambit 3-1 G2

2021-07-12 05:05

2021-07-12 10:19

2021-07-12 11:04

Astralis 2-0 VP G2-0 Astralis Faze 2-1 Gambit (let me hope) Navi 2-0 Faze :( Navi 3-0 G2 ez

2021-07-12 05:32

Same lan final in a row?

2021-07-12 09:07

why not, would be very symbolic tho

2021-07-12 11:27

astralis 2-0 vp gambit 1-2 faze astralis 2-1 g2 NAVI 1-2 faze faze 3-2 astralis twistzz mvp ez win

2021-07-12 06:29

EZ 4 VP SANJI MVP

2021-07-12 06:57

rip all the teams Id care to watch

2021-07-12 07:22

G2 - NaVi Grand Finals most probably Would be really awesome if somehow its a G2 - FaZe finals, but higly unlikely

2021-07-12 08:04

Gambit - vp final sorry

2021-07-12 10:18

Lol keep dreaming about VP

2021-07-12 10:53

They had runs like that. Somehow they seem to be more comfortable in the lower bracket.

2021-07-12 14:46

Sasha came down from heaven to show us some cs go

2021-07-12 08:06

navi - vp final lets go

2021-07-12 08:13

Let's go, Na'Vi!

2021-07-12 08:39

What a tournament so far, so many great bo3s. LAN delivers!

2021-07-12 08:40

Ez final for G2

2021-07-12 09:06

gambit vs navi again :D

2021-07-12 09:24

u forgot about g2

2021-07-12 09:53

gambit vs navi will be semis that has nothing to do with g2

2021-07-12 10:58

EZ4NAVI

2021-07-12 10:11

Rip faze 😎😎😎

2021-07-12 10:17

VP will win astralis

2021-07-12 10:20

Gambit vs G2 3-2

2021-07-12 10:24

it is so boring to wait 5 days for action, ridiculous

2021-07-12 10:36

+1 and they keep scheduling 3 Bo3s per day so some teams have to play late at night (VP - coL was a joke, even NAVI - Astralis was too late even tho NAVI made it fast on 1st and 3rd map)

2021-07-12 11:30

Man players work during the week so they can only play on weekends /s

2021-07-12 12:43

Navi - Gambit will be more interesting to watch than the grand final. Hope Navi or Gambit win the tournament.

2021-07-12 10:41

FaZe needs to figure out how to activate Twistzzz because he has been underwhelming so far. He starts super slow and has the luxury to have other teammates giving him time to pick it up.

2021-07-12 10:43

Rlyy? He is one of the best player in this tournament so far

From what I have seen he always starts super slow and then there is a turn around and he picks it up. I don't know what's wrong exactly. Overall yes, he is doing great. But it takes like 6-8 rounds to get him started

Well taking 6-8 to getting started is better to never getting started lol

2021-07-12 14:23

man I feel like VP is going to get into the final and lose there 3-0 to navi in the most boring match xD

+111111 ban vp

2021-07-12 12:09

without my boyz i won't watch it any longer. :-(

2021-07-12 11:56

They played great though, they can be proud and their fans too.

2021-07-12 12:06

Just like expected - 2-3 CIS teams were able to make it thus far, all the rest are eliminated gl hf

2021-07-12 12:30

CIS finals as always no chance for EU CS LUL

2021-07-12 13:26

I dont care much for faze, but I really hope they win because olof is a legend

2021-07-12 13:29

Faze up

2021-07-12 13:32

FAZE UP BABY

OEM Cologne best team, they reached playoffs

2021-07-12 14:11

Gamb0ts will crush Faze. U will see. After this all of you will be make threads about disband Faze.

I don't know why would normal person would think that FaZe would need to disband after this tournament even if they lose 16-5 and 16-2. I think their run is pretty good already and they did more that could've been expected from them.

2021-07-12 14:50

No, they didnt. They had just more luck than always. Just look on their past 2 months games. They lost almost everything with top tier teams but always after close tough fight. THEY WERE, THEY ARE AND THEY WILL ALWAYS SOLID GOOD TEAM but always not enough to win any tournament.

2021-07-13 16:00

FAZETHEFUCKUP

Faze against all odds are at the playoffs!

olofmaister...... I LOVE YOU !

2021-07-12 15:31

VP 0-2 Astralis Gambit 1-2 FaZe G2 2-1 Astralis NaVi 2-0 Faze NaVi 3-0 G2 MVP: s1m "GOAT" ple

2021-07-12 15:33

If faze win this, olof will go back to top 3 in 2021

2021-07-12 15:55

Faze will take this .... Gamb0ts will lose to Faze because they have mostly won the online tournys .... Navi chokes easily if S2mple underperforms Navi will drop as well. G2 might get taken out by VP if Jame time kicks in and Yeky shows up. Going all in on Faze let's go baby Olof is back for nothing. Plus Faze were always decent on Lan .... they have been shit since the online scene. 2-1 VP vs asstralis 2-1 VP vs G2 2-0 Faze vs gamb0ts 2-1 Faze vs Navi

2021-07-12 16:32

Faze is the biggest fucking black-horse as Gambit in Katowice 2021

2021-07-12 16:44

GF NaVi - G2

2021-07-12 19:06

The best teams on LAN are through. Happy for that and can't wait for all the great CS we're gonna watch in the playoffs

2021-07-12 23:20

Nice

2021-07-13 07:11

I want to see g2 vs faze and niko bottomfragging

2021-07-13 11:38

The faze problems was not in players, but in team in general.. expectations, superstars, high stakes always, e.t.c. They simply need to stop think they are best, we will win this tournament, we are all superstars here.. and more.

2021-07-13 13:10