The biggest stories and plays from day two of the IEM Cologne group stage

HEROIC and ENCE qualified for the playoffs, but what else went down on the second day of the IEM Cologne group stage?

The second day of IEM Cologne's group stage has concluded and the first teams to advance to the Lanxess Arena have been determined. We've also said goodbye to our set of teams and welcomed the remainder of the field from Group B, so what all exactly went down in Germany today?

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2023
30/07/2023	Vitality Finished 2:0 OG	Match
30/07/2023	Cloud9 Finished 2:1 9INE	Match
30/07/2023	fnatic Finished 0:2 ENCE	Match
30/07/2023	FaZe Finished 2:1 Ninjas in Pyjamas	Match
30/07/2023	GamerLegion Finished 2:1 The MongolZ	Match
30/07/2023	Monte Finished 0:2 HEROIC	Match

NEO debuts for FaZe

FaZe played their first match in Cologne, making their first appearance with Polish legend Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski standing behind them. The 36-year-old arrives as an "interim" coach to fil the gap left vacant by Robert "⁠RobbaN⁠" Dahlström, who announced that he was stepping down from coaching two weeks ago.

The team found success in their debut with their new coach, defeating Ninjas in Pyjamas in a three-map series to set up an upper bracket semi-final game against G2 for a spot in the playoffs of IEM Cologne.

Heroic, ENCE qualify for the Lanxess Arena

The first two teams who will get to play in the Lanxess Arena were also determined, with HEROIC recovering from their near-loss to The MongolZ yesterday by defeating Monte in a two-map series to make it into the German arena for the first time. HEROIC were pushed to the limit on Mirage, only narrowly taking the map 16-14, but showed dominance on the CT side of Overpass to recover from a 5-10 halftime score and clinch victory over the majority-Ukrainian side, 16-11.

ENCE had a somewhat easier time of things versus fnatic, although they admittedly struggled on the CT side on both maps — something Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer said the team will have to work on in the coming days. fnatic's pick of Overpass ended up being close, with ENCE taking the victory 16-13, whereas some excellent T side calling from the Danish in-game leader on Nuke allowed his team to lead 11-4 (and 15-5) before they eventually closed out the series with a 16-11 win.

TheMongolz, 9INE bow out

The MongolZ and 9INE became the first two teams to be sent packing from IEM Cologne's group stage following losses to GamerLegion and Cloud9, respectively. Both teams will lament the losses as they had the chance to clinch victory on the series deciders, leading 15-14 before their opponents managed to force overtime and steal away victory.

However, they both performed admirably while in Germany, particularly The MongolZ, who impressed with a strong performance against HEROIC on day one and showed tenacity by recovering from a 1-10 deficit on Overpass versus GamerLegion before conceding defeat in overtime.

Player of the day

An honorable mention for player of the day definitely goes to Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy, as the 23-year-old was absolutely vital in helping Cloud9 squeeze past 9INE in their elimination series. However, no one was able to trump the superlative performance of Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool.

The Estonian was in fine form throughout FaZe’s win over Ninjas in Pyjamas, but it was his monstrous 1.98-rated, 103.5 ADR performance on Overpass that was the real highlight, the rifler single-handedly made the map a breeze for his team. His 1.45-rated, 96 ADR performance on Nuke was not too shabby either.

HLTV live coverage of the day

IEM Cologne day two gallery

Aurélien "⁠afro⁠" Drapier: "Most of the time, dexter just wants me to do whatever I want"

Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski: "I'm very happy to be here, I discovered how much I missed it all"

Highlights