The biggest stories and plays from the IEM Cologne Play-In

The first stage of the $1,000,000 event has come to a close after three days of action. Here are the highlight moments from the Play-In.

The first Big event of the Fall season is upon us, as IEM Cologne starts off the remainder of a busy year in Counter-Strike. The Play-In stage got us underway in Germany, where 16 teams fought for the eight group stage spots available.

While most favorites advanced and met their expectations, there were some whose new-look rosters failed to perform and missed out on a spot in the main event.

Liquid and FURIA miss out

The biggest omission from the advancing teams is Liquid. Transitioning to European core over the break with the controversial signings of Aleks "⁠Rainwaker⁠" Petrov and Robert "⁠Patsi⁠" Isyanov and changing in-game leadership is taking a toll on the prestigious organization's results, which also include a failure to advance from the BLAST Premier Fall Groups.

While in Copenhagen there were bright spots in the new team's wins over FaZe and G2, in Cologne the team lost to Astralis, struggled against a BIG team playing with a former academy core and without their new AWPer, and went out at the hands of 9INE.

FURIA were the second big name to miss out on a place in the groups. The Brazilian organization went through a rebuild during the summer, replacing André "⁠drop⁠" Abreu and Rafael "⁠saffee⁠" Costa with ex-Imperial duo Marcelo "⁠chelo⁠" Cespedes and Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo.

The signings added a lot of experience and firepower to the roster, but their growing pains became apparent as the tournament went on. The previous FURIA style and the new vision by FalleN don't mesh together well, something the legendary IGL confirmed in post-match interviews. As the team tries to find a solid blend of the two "eras of Counter-Strike," as FalleN put it, their results will seemingly suffer.

European teams reign supreme

Out of the eight teams that progressed, only one doesn't come from Europe. The MongolZ have surprised many by making it to the main event with wins over Into the Breach and FURIA, becoming the only non-European team to do so. North America's only representatives Complexity bowed out in last place, as did the solitary Aussies Grayhound.

Perhaps even more surprisingly, Brazilian teams failed to fare much better. FURIA failed to make the main event after a dismal showing against The MongolZ, while Imperial lost out on the final group stage spot against Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Play-In results

Top 3 performances

The best performance of the Play-In goes to David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský, who dismantled Ninjas in Pyjamas in the qualification series.

The Slovakian rifler averaged a 1.75 rating in the series and put up 57 kills in two maps, making sure that MOUZ don't miss out on a place in the IEM Cologne group stage. His godlike 34-13, 120 ADR performance on the closer affair of the two maps on Nuke made all the difference as he put the team on his back.

The second outstanding comes from another MOUZ member, this time from their opening match in the tournament against The MongolZ.

Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás dragged his team over the line in a double-overtime affair against the Mongolian side, putting up 50 kills and 10 openers and finishing the game as the only MOUZ member with a positive K-D at an incredible +25. The Hungarian sniper talked about being more comfortable under new IGL Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek, and his early performances back that up.

The final highlight performance of the Play-In comes from William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman. The English rifler, now free from the shackles of the IGL role after fnatic completed the signing of Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong, had a wonderful time at the Play-In.

His best game came in their opener against Complexity, where he topped the board for his team with 39 kills and a 1.62 rating in the overtime affair. Many community figures questioned fnatic's level of firepower, and mezii's fragging output in the Play-In answers those critics for now.

Highlights of the Play-In stage

HLTV live coverage

HLTV.org has a coverage team in Cologne to bring you interviews from location, photos, and story updates on Instagram. Here are the interviews we conducted during the Play-In stage:

Dennis "⁠sycrone⁠" Nielsen: "There's a bit more pressure on torzsi because we have even younger players now"

Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan: "We're putting FalleN in some spots where he can be more aggressive"

Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk: "CacaNito is like a gem hidden in the rocks"

Astralis have got their man, but can Staehr ignite their rebuild?

Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev: "Now we have more structure, I can rely on people not dying when they don't need to"

Aleks "⁠Rainwaker⁠" Petrov: "It's hard; I've never played in international rosters so I will need time"

Iulian "⁠regali⁠" Harjău: "I see a great future ahead of me and it wasn't like this before"

Olek "⁠hades⁠" Miskiewicz: "We still feel that we have the best Vertigo in the world"

Group stage opening matchups

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2023
29/07/2023	Cloud9 12:30 fnatic	Match
29/07/2023	GamerLegion 12:30 Monte	Match
29/07/2023	ENCE 16:00 9INE	Match
29/07/2023	G2 16:45 Astralis	Match
29/07/2023	HEROIC 19:50 The MongolZ	Match
29/07/2023	Natus Vincere 20:50 MOUZ	Match
30/07/2023	Vitality 12:30 OG	Match
30/07/2023	FaZe 16:40 Ninjas in Pyjamas	Match