Eternal Fire outlast Falcons in messy Play-in start

The Turkish team barely closed out the Dust2 decider after punishing sloppy play from Snappi's side.

Eternal Fire are one series away from securing a spot in the top-16 stage of IEM Cologne following a 2-1 victory (13-5 Vertigo, 8-13 Nuke, 13-11 Dust2) over Falcons in their opening match of the Play-in.

Neither team delivered a convincing account of themselves and the series was filled with sloppy mistakes bailed out by individual highlights, culminating with a squandered round 24 on Dust2 where Falcons had the economy advantage but couldn't convert.

The defeat casts Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer's down to the lower bracket, where they will be heavy favorites against ALTERNATE aTTaX before facing the loser of BIG vs. SAW for a spot in the top-16.

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2024 Play-in
08/08/2024	Complexity 19:15 Eternal Fire	Match
08/08/2024	ALTERNATE aTTaX 19:50 Falcons	Match

Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli's side were in blistering form on Vertigo and converted their pick with ease (13-5) off the back of an otherworldly performance from Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş, but stumbled on Falcons' pick of Nuke. An early lead for the Saudi organization could have slipped away, but Eternal Fire squandered a retake after Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen snuck onto the lower site, awarding Snappi his first HLTV-recorded 1vs5 in his 11-year career.

Falcons were unyielding in the second half, recovered from a pistol defeat by crunching Lobby, and used that momentum to close in on a map victory. Eternal Fire began a comeback effort, but tipped the gaff after a questionable drop out of Heaven in a 2vs2 offered Falcons an easy retake and allowed them to close the map out not long after.

Dust2 was more contentious as Eternal Fire punished Falcons with Long and B splits, with Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif's best efforts keeping Falcons in the running and helping recover near the end of the half.

Snappi's side looked set to pull off a comeback in the second half with a better look on the attack, but a Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker 1vs3 and shameful showing on round 24 left Falcons looking the fool as Eternal Fire narrowly edged out the win.