IEM Cologne play-in and group stage in photos

With the tournament's group stage in the rear view mirror, here are some of the best photographs from the event in Germany so far.

IEM Cologne has already delivered six days of intense action counting the play-in and group stage, with six teams through to the playoffs and 18 eliminated from contention, including some top names like G2, FURIA, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Vitality, ENCE, HEROIC or Cloud9. On Friday, July 15, the action will move to the LANXESS Arena, where the surviving teams will play to be crowned champions of the $1 million tournament.

Among the teams that did make it to the playoffs, Natus Vincere and FaZe are the front-runners on either side of the bracket as they both got berths straight to the semi-finals from the group stage. They will both be fighting to go into the summer break as the top team in the world ranking, which Natus Vincere reclaimed from the international squad at the beginning of the week.

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Ahead of the opening matches in Cologne's 'Cathedral of Counter-Strike' on Friday, which will pit Astralis up against MOUZ in one quarter-final and Movistar Riders taking on Liquid in the other, we have put together some of the best shots by HTLV's two photographers on the ground, Josip "brcho" Brtan and Radoslaw "MAKKU" Makuch, of what has been played so far.