by Team Spirit was seeking to become the fourth team in Counter-Strike history to claim both IEM Katowice and IEM Cologne in the same year; however, their campaign has been swiftly ended by G2 Esports.
The world number two entered IEM Cologne 2024 as the $3.50 favourite with esports betting sites, but after falling to The Mongolz in the opening round, Spirit were faced with a daunting task against G2 in the lower bracket to remain in the tournament.
G2, who were also upset by a play-in stage qualifier, had their IEM Cologne title defence dealt an early blow after suffering a 0-2 loss against SAW.
The do-or-die series began on Spirit’s map pick of Nuke, and it was Nemanja ‘huNter-‘ Kova? who started off hot for G2, recording five kills in the first two rounds to set the tone.
The Kova? cousins, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kova? and huNter-, dominated for G2 in the first half, propelling the squad to a 9-3 halftime lead.
Three first-half rounds would be the only round wins that Spirit claimed, as G2 quickly wrapped up the map 13-3.
Only Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets cracked double-digit kills (10), while Myroslav ‘zont1x’ Plakhotia struggled with four kills and 37.9 ADR on Nuke.
Following a lacklustre performance on their map, Spirit was tasked with playing G2’s pick of Mirage.
However, G2 started Mirage with four straight rounds on the terrorist side before Spirit won their first, thanks to three kills from zont1x.
Unfortunately for Spirit, G2 continued their dominance and finished the half with a massive 11-1 lead before closing out the series with a 13-1 demolition.
.@G2CSGO absolutely DOMINATE @Team__Spirit in the lower bracket of Group A, eliminating the Katowice champions in the process!
13-3 Nuke
13-1 Mirage pic.twitter.com/Fo5lFZABef— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) August 11, 2024
Spirit has been sent packing from IEM Cologne following an embarrassing performance, which saw them win just four rounds in the clash with G2.
9z Team joined Spirit in last place after they were eliminated from Cologne by paiN Gaming in a back-and-forth three-map series, with paiN completing the reverse sweep after losing the first map.
Meanwhile, Natus Vincere (NaVi) and SAW secured their spots in the LANXESS Arena following their victories in the Group A upper bracket semi-finals.
NaVi proved too strong for Astralis and took the series 2-0 (13-4, 13-7).
SAW was pushed to their limits against The Mongolz, as they played all three maps and eventually claimed the series 2-1 (13-16, 13-7, 13-10).
The IEM Cologne group stage will continue on Monday, with two elimination matches scheduled to kick off the day.
Monday’s IEM Cologne group stage fixtures
- Team Liquid ($1.40) vs FURIA ($2.75) @ 1:30pm CEST
- Virtus.pro ($1.66) vs Falcons ($2.10) @ 1:30pm CEST
- Complexity ($3.00) vs MOUZ ($1.36) @ 3:45pm CEST
- FaZe Clan ($2.37) vs Team Vitality ($1.53) @ 3:45pm CEST
- Astralis ($2.37) vs G2 ($1.53) @ 6:45pm CEST
- The Mongolz ($1.53) vs paiN Gaming ($2.37) @ 6:45pm CEST
