ElIGE powers COL to group stage; Falcons limp on

The American team floundered to victory in a messy end to the series on Dust2.

Complexity are through to the group stage of IEM Cologne after scoring a 2-0 victory over Eternal Fire in the upper bracket, recovering from a poor start on Vertigo to steal the map before edging past the Turkish side in a messy — but entertaining — double overtime affair on Dust2.

Simultaneously, Falcons saw to the elimination of ALTERNATE aTTaX in the lower bracket, but failed to show a good account of themselves in an error-prone series and still have a match against BIG in the cards if they want to secure a spot in the group stage.

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2024 Play-in
09/08/2024	BIG 17:20 Falcons	Match
09/08/2024	The MongolZ 19:35 Eternal Fire	Match

Eternal Fire had cast Falcons down to the lower bracket on the first day of play after a radiant performance by Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş, who shone in a 2-1 series that included a dominant showing on Vertigo and a narrow win on Dust2.

Likely spurred on by their one-sided victory against Falcons, the Turkish team opted for a Vertigo pick against Complexity too, and made good on that choice in the first half as Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın and XANTARES' entries tore apart Complexity's defenses.

The latter cooled off in the second half, however, and Complexity completely flipped the script as they won 10 rounds in a row off the back of a 1vs3 pistol clutch and superlative T-side showing from Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski to steal away the map.

Eternal Fire began Dust2 in control but failed to hold on after a 1vs2 ace clutch by Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince gave Complexity the momentum, allowing the American team to tie the game at 6-6 at the break before they romped to an 11-6 lead after the break.

Messy Counter-Strike unfolded, though, with Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker capitalizing on mistakes from Complexity while Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli's frustrations continued to build. Eternal Fire managed to force overtime off the back of a pivotal 1vs2 clutch by Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli, but unconvincing rounds from both sides kept the battle going into a second set of rounds.

Complexity took the early lead there, but nearly gave away the goose after squandering a 4vs2 and almost losing a 5vs3, only for Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou to bail his side out with a clutch that led to victory.

Falcons were entirely unconvincing in their series as they failed to stamp authority over ALTERNATE aTTaX and played some incredibly sloppy Counter-Strike despite securing a 2-0 win.

The German team took an early lead on Anubis off the back of a 1vs3 clutch from Marcel "⁠hyped⁠" Köhn, with Falcons floundering for a response before eventually breaking through with a force-buy. A resurgence on the T side from Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer and company saw them win seven of the first eight rounds to hit map point, but even then they barely closed out the game in regulation in an unconvincing show of force.

Sloppy play from both sides continued on Mirage, although Falcons looked more comfortable as they jumped out to a strong lead at the break. Errors and woeful play for a team of their caliber persisted, however, and despite them closing the map 13-9, they will be hard-pressed to battle past other teams if this is the level they put up for the rest of the event.