Heroic fend off TheMongolz to earn first win at IEM Cologne

The Danes will face Monte on Sunday for a chance to guarantee a spot in the IEM Cologne playoffs.

HEROIC are through to the IEM Cologne Group A upper bracket semi-final after surviving a scare from The MongolZ, conceding defeat in the Mirage opener (11-16) and instead requiring a double overtime bout on Overpass (22-18) and a trip to Inferno (16-10) to eventually clinch victory in the series.

"They really pushed us to the edge," Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck commented in a post-match interview with Eefje "⁠sjokz⁠" Depoortere. "It was back-and-forth a little, but in the end, we found the rhythm a little bit, we listened to cadiaN's calls... it just went smoother in the end compared to the first map and sometimes in the second map as well, where it was a little chaotic and they caught us off-guard with random pushes."

The Danes now move forward to the Group A upper bracket semi-final in Cologne, where they will duke it out with Monte on Sunday at 19:30 for a chance to guarantee a spot in the Lanxess Arena.

On the flip side, The MongolZ will be kicking themselves after having ample opportunities to close the series out in two maps. The Asian roster had the best of such attempts in round 29 on Overpass, where Sodbayar "⁠Techno⁠" Munkhbold whiffed his spray and ultimately gave the Danes a way back into the best-of-three. The MongolZ will duke it out with the new-look GamerLegion, also on Sunday at 19:30 , in a bid to stay alive in Cologne.

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2023
30/07/2023	GamerLegion 19:30 The MongolZ	Match

It was a clean start to the series for The MongolZ, a solid team effort from the entirety of the Mongolian roster allowing their Mirage pick to go off without a hitch, 16-11, and instead forcing the Danes to bear the pressure of being upset by a team 29 spots below them on the world ranking.

This pressure was turned up a notch once Overpass, HEROIC's veto selection, rolled around, with The MongolZ recovering from a slow start on the CT-side before ramping things up on the offense. The team around Garidmagnai "⁠bLitz⁠" Byambasuren held off HEROIC and navigated their way onto map and series point, but collapsed at the final hurdle, a whiff from Techno in round 29 letting an otherwise clever round slip through their fingers and gifting HEROIC a chance to send the series to overtime.

The Danes grabbed their second chance at life with both hands, winning all four of the rounds on offer in the second overtime to send the series to Inferno and prevent a complete 0-2 upset.

HEROIC had fully awoken from their slumber by the time the Inferno decider began. The MongolZ maintained some pressure with a strong T-side to start, but were then outclassed by a superlative-performing Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller, who was ever-vocal and came up trumps with huge clutches throughout the map to guide his troops to victory, 16-10.