FaZe Clan nip Liquid for IEM Cologne group-stage spot

FaZe Clan recorded a 2-1 win over Team Liquid on Thursday to clinch a group-stage berth at the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne event in Germany.

Ninjas in Pyjamas and GamerLegion also won their upper-bracket second-round matches on Thursday to advance. Ninjas in Pyjamas dumped 3DMAX 2-0, and GamerLegion pushed past Virtus.pro 2-0.

The play-in phase of the $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began with 16 teams competing in a double-elimination bracket of best-of-three matches. Eight teams will earn spots in the group stage, which also will include eight teams that received direct berths: Team Vitality, MOUZ, Team Spirit, Team Falcons, The MongolZ, Aurora Gaming, G2 Esports and Natus Vincere.

The group stage, which begins Saturday, will consist of two double-elimination groups contesting best-of-three matches. The two group winners will advance directly to the semifinals, the two runners-up will move to the quarterfinals as high seeds, and the two third-place teams will head to the quarterfinals as low seeds.

The playoffs, which will start on Aug. 1, will be single elimination. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be best-of-three ahead of the best-of-five final on Aug. 3.

The winning team will receive $400,000, and the runner-up will get $180,000.

On Thursday, FaZe Clan opened with a 13-6 win on Mirage before Team Liquid equalized with a 13-10 victory on Inferno. FaZe Clan took the decisive third map, Nuke, in 13-2 blowout.

Latvia's Helvijs "broky" Saukants paced FaZe Clan with 49 kills and a plus-21 kill-death differential. Poland's Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak topped Team Liquid with 45 kills and a plus-5 K-D differential.

Ninjas in Pyjamas toppled 3DMAX 13-8 on Nuke, 13-7 on Dust II behind 38 kills and a plus-8 K-D differential from Poland's Kacper "xKacpersky" Gabara. Alexandre "bodyy" Pianaro produced 35 kills and a plus-10 K-D differential for all-French 3DMAX.

GamerLegion downed Virtus.pro 13-8 on Dust II and 13-11 on Ancient. The Czech Republic's Oldrich "PR" Novy wound up with 38 kills and a plus-9 K-D differential for GamerLegion. Russia's Evgenii "FL1T" Lebedev starred for Virtus.pro with 33 kills and a plus-5 K-D differential.

The last upper-bracket second-round match, Astralis vs. FURIA, is scheduled for Friday.

Three of the four lower-bracket first-round matches were contested on Thursday. HEROIC swept MIBR 2-0, TYLOO came from behind to beat Complexity 2-1, and FlyQuest edged B8 2-1, prevailing 19-16 in double overtime on the third map, Inferno.

The Friday schedule:

Upper-bracket second-round match (winner advances)

--Astralis vs. FURIA

Lower-bracket first-round match

--BIG vs. paiN Gaming

Lower-bracket second-round matches (winners advance)

--Virtus.pro vs. HEROIC

--3DMAX vs. TYLOO

--Team Liquid vs. FlyQuest

--BIG-paiN Gaming winner vs. Astralis-FURIA loser

Intel Extreme Masters Cologne prize pool

1. $400,000

2. $180,000

3-4. $80,000

5-6. $40,000

7-8. $24,000

9-12. $16,000

13-16. $10,000

17-20. $4,500

21-24. $2,500 -- MIBR, Complexity, B8, one team TBD

--Field Level Media