IEM Cologne Play-in bracket and groups set

23-6-2022 20:10

The Cathedral of Counter-Strike, IEM Cologne, is a mere two weeks away.

ESL has revealed the fate of the 24 teams set to compete for a $1 million prizepool at the concluding event of the first part of the 2022 season, IEM Cologne, from July 4-18, announcing the opening matchups of the Play-in bracket and the distribution of the teams who have already earned a berth in the group stage.

Featuring 16 teams, the Play-in will have eight spots in the group stage on offer in a double-elimination bracket.

Heroic will face Sprout in their debut with jabbi

Among the most high-profile participants of the first phase are recent BLAST Premier runners-up Vitality, Major semi-finalists Spirit playing their first event with Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov, and HEROIC, who recently replaced Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali with Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard.

Another interesting name that appears on the list and who will be coming into the event fresh off changes is 00NATION, which all but confirms the widely reported move of the core of Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo, Eduardo "⁠dumau⁠" Wolkmer, and Bruno "⁠latto⁠" Rebelatto from GODSENT, who had originally earned the spot in Cologne.

Below you can see the full bracket order and opening matchups of the Play-in phase:

Play-in bracket

HEROIC vs. Sprout
MOUZ vs. paiN
Spirit vs. Complexity
00NATION vs. Astralis
BIG vs. ORDER
Outsiders vs. Imperial
MIBR vs. Movistar Riders
TYLOO vs. Vitality

Most of the big names await in the group stage, which boasts seven out of the current top-eight teams, with Natus Vincere headlining Group A and FaZe seeded in Group B as the current top-two teams in the world according to the HLTV.org ranking.

The Ukrainian-Russian side recently revealed that Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev will keep playing with them at the Cologne event, where they will be joined by Ninjas in Pyjamas, G2, and ENCE in their group, along with four play-in teams. On the other side it's Liquid, FURIA, and Cloud9 who will be battling against a FaZe team looking to rediscover their Major-winning form:

Group stage distribution

Group A

Group B

Faze got an easy group

2022-06-23 20:11

18 replies

2022-06-23 20:12

1 reply

IEM leaked 00Nation

2022-06-23 20:14

Yekindar buff in liquid. Watch it

2022-06-23 20:40

4 replies

Huge +1 if for no other reason than Elige and NAF can go back to the roles they’re most comfortable in

2022-06-23 22:04

3 replies

If they weren't comfortable because they needed to start entrying more, then they shouldve never removed stew to begin with. Dumbest move of all time.

2022-06-24 02:57

2 replies

+1 unfortunately

2022-06-24 07:13

Stew has major attitude and tilt issues. Also look at his stats. Subpar entry at best

2022-06-25 22:25

As per usual.

2022-06-23 21:01

Yea. Same for EPL right? They had to beat ence, lost Then had to beat navi,cloud9 to get to finals. NIP is the only team that usually gets the freest groups. It's the first time this year theyre f***** N1

2022-06-23 22:34

if heroic or vitality joins Faze group then it can be interesting

2022-06-23 21:23

Not really, FaZe once lost to both c9 and furia before. it's a fair bracket imo

2022-06-23 22:23

Not really. Cloud9 is a good team and liquid with yekindar should be really good too

2022-06-23 22:27

2022-06-23 23:25

2022-06-24 00:25

Welcome back to HOWTOBBQRIGHT

2022-06-24 00:33

YESSSS HAHAHAHAH

2022-06-24 01:04

2022-06-24 06:21

Always

2022-06-24 16:52

ZERO ZEROO

Hampus NIP ?

Who is hampus?

2022-06-23 20:28

hltv.org/player/9766/hampus

I'm getting 404 Page Not Found

2022-06-23 21:34

WHO THE FUCK IS HAMPUS

LETS GOOOO TYLOOOO

2022-06-23 20:13

Tyloo is trash. Just check their match against Illuminar.

2022-06-23 20:52

so you cant cheer on a team thats not one of the best according to you

2022-06-23 23:36

00nation ???? where is dogsent

bruh group A rip nip

2022-06-23 20:15

If they bring their A-game, anything is possible

2022-06-23 21:06

No way they are defeating navi and g2

2022-06-24 05:48

cloud9 got easy group

2022-06-23 20:16

Baitzera stole Godsent slot kekw

2022-06-23 20:17

00nation has 2 players xD

6 replies

Iem cologne leaked and 00 ain't announced

what?

2022-06-23 20:24

00Nation hasn't announced the team yet, but we already know it's going to be taco, latto and dumau the signings

2022-06-23 21:36

+3 incoming

2022-06-23 20:34

GodSent squad?

2022-06-23 20:37

2022-06-23 21:09

Ez 4 for 00Nation, the whole LG/SK squad is in the IEM Cologne Play-in

2022-06-23 20:18

Wtf how does Complexity get Spirit? Rigged already

Probably because complexity has really low score, I really hope they pull through

2022-06-23 21:43

They can definitely beat team spirit especially since they don’t have Degster but it all depends on what team complexity show up

2022-06-23 22:21

Interesting event 🙂 GL to all teams 🌟

2022-06-23 20:23

Organizers trying to help faze win omegalul

Man what is this groups

2022-06-23 20:25

ez 4 imperial

2022-06-23 20:26

Cold and try have HUGE balls, imagine playing Cologne 2v5

2022-06-23 20:27

This is so stupid yet the funniest shit i've read today jsjsjs

2022-06-24 02:32

2022-06-24 07:16

lol group b, easiest draw ever. group a could be anyone to take

2022-06-23 20:29

00nation 2v5 everyone EZ

2022-06-23 20:36

Considering how trash astralis is rn I would put some money on 00meme 2v5

2022-06-24 01:30

I think it's the first time in a year that NIP as a hard group lmao

0/8 blast spring groups, katowice, major playoffs

2022-06-23 20:58

whats so hard about katowive group prnt.sc/fV1R9KOcBOn0

2022-06-23 21:52

Nice try buddy Major playoffs is already deep into the tournament Katowice they had free run. Stop coping

2022-06-23 22:33

Virtus.pro while they were still in form and gambit 2 times???

2022-06-24 08:28

Actually a decent draw for once

2022-06-23 20:42

Liquid and Faze in the same bracket interesting

2022-06-23 20:47

Always NAVI in the hardest group while Faze having it easy.

2022-06-23 20:50

How is group b easier? Cloud 9, Furia > G2, NIP, ENCE. And liquid with yekindar can be dangerous too

2022-06-23 21:16

lmao

2022-06-23 22:31

Reasonable group draws. A is a little weaker than one would think

2022-06-23 20:55

Without OG xD

2022-06-23 20:56

OMFG G2 VS NIP AGAIN AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAH I'M SO FUCKING TIRED OF THIS MATCH-UP NGL

EZ4TYLOO

2022-06-23 21:07

Good groups for both really. They play-in teams with Heroic, Vitality, Astralis and Spirit will shake up the groups even further

2022-06-23 21:11

Group A, ez for Navi. Only G2 is capable beat Navi. Others are joke. Well current NaVi looks much better than their Katowice form due to sudden invasion. Should be Ez