MIBR send struggling HEROIC to the lower bracket

9z taught 3DMAX a harsh lesson in 13-3 and 13-4 wins on the B stream.

MIBR beat HEROIC in their opening series at IEM Cologne under new in-game leader André "⁠drop⁠" Abreu. The Brazilian team won it 2-1 against a side clearly not at their best — particularly on the defense —, with Volodymyr "⁠Woro2k⁠" Veletniuk standing in for Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov, who could not travel to Germany due to visa issues.

"Things weren't going as we expected so we decided that it was time to make a change," MIBR's new leader said on the broadcast after the game. "Everyone was hoping for it, so we made the change and we're trying our best to fit me, to fit exit into his new roles, to get comfortable and reach better results than we had in the past."

The next phase of the bracket is then set, with opening round losers 3DMAX and HEROIC set to face off in an elimination match and 9z taking on MIBR for a spot straight into the group stage.

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2024 Play-in
08/08/2024	3DMAX 16:45 HEROIC	Match
09/08/2024	9z 13:30 MIBR	Match

The series kicked off on Ancient, where the T sides tipped the scales as an 8-4 half in favor of MIBR was turned on its head after the switch and HEROIC posted a 9-2 score on the offensive to secure the map 13-10.

Things were looking good for the Europeans as MIBR's 1-5 record on Mirage did not bode well for drop and his men. In the end, however, a 6-6 split in the first half went the way of the Brazilians, whose Felipe "⁠insani⁠" Yuji had a magnificent series throughout with AWPer Rafael "⁠saffee⁠" Costa also shining, as HEROIC's issues on the CT side were made apparent when they lost the half 1-7 to bow out 7-13.

The same problems crept up on Anubis, a map that is hard to play on the CT side as is, and once again Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski and his men could not hold it down. Another split half gave way to a meltdown on the CT side and MIBR made it back-to-back 13-7s to close out the series. By the end of the series, HEROIC only tallied six CT rounds in three maps.

Over on the B stream, much-fancied underdogs 9z put 3DMAX to the sword in 13-3 and 13-4 victories.

La Violeta have recently moved to Madrid full-time, enabling the platform to build on recent results such as a top four at IEM Dallas and winning FiReLEAGUE Finals in Argentina.

"In Madrid it's been amazing, we love the weather, it's so hot," Maximiliano "⁠max⁠" Gonzalez said post-match. "Practice here with the best teams in the world makes all the difference."

Star player Franco "⁠dgt⁠" Garcia was the key man on Anubis — prompting Lucas "⁠Bubzkji⁠" Andersen to call him the best prospect out of South America since Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato and Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos — but on Nuke it was the captain's time to shine.

Clip: max wins a 1v2 clutch on Nuke

The first half was already good, capped with a 1vs2 clutch just before the break, before max went foot to the floor with 14 frags in five CT rounds and a flashy triple spraydown to end the match 2-0.

3DMAX, who were late additions to the IEM Cologne team list after visa issues denied BetBoom, now drop to the lower bracket with plenty of improvement necessary after a humbling first day.