MOUZ, Natus Vincere reach IEM Cologne semifinals

Field Level Media|published: Fri 1st August, 20:12 2025

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MOUZ and Natus Vincere reached the final four of the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne playoffs by winning tightly contested quarterfinal matches on Friday in Germany.

MOUZ overcame FURIA 2-1 in one quarterfinal showdown, while Natus Vincere pulled out a 2-0 victory over The MongolZ in the other. MOUZ advanced to face Team Vitality in Saturday's semifinals, while NaVi will take on Team Spirit.

The single-elimination playoffs are the third and final stage of the $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. Playoff matches are best-of-three until the best-of-five final on Sunday.

A play-in stage allowed eight teams to advance to the group stage, joining eight teams that directly qualified into the groups. The group stage at IEM Cologne consisted of two double-elimination groups contesting best-of-three matches. The two group winners advanced directly to the semifinals, the two runners-up moved to the quarterfinals as high seeds, and the two third-place teams headed to the quarterfinals as low seeds.

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

On Friday, MOUZ opened with a 19-16 double-overtime win over FURIA on Train. FURIA countered with a 13-10 win on Mirage, but MOUZ pulled out a 13-11 result on the final map, Inferno. Lotan "Spinx" Giladi of Israel led MOUZ with 67 kills on a plus-9 kills-to-deaths differential, while teammate Hungary's Adam "torzsi" Torzsas had 63 kills on a plus-24.

NaVi didn't need to go three maps to beat The MongolZ, but the first map, Inferno, required plenty of extra time before they broke out of a tie for a 22-18 win. NaVi finished the job with a 13-6 triumph on Ancient.

Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov of Ukraine (51 kills, plus-17) and Drin "makazze" Shaqiri of Kosovo (51 kills, plus-12) paced NaVi.

The tournament continues Saturday with the two semifinal matches:

--Team Vitality vs. MOUZ

--Team Spirit vs. Natus Vincere

Intel Extreme Masters Cologne prize pool:

1. $400,000

2. $180,000

3-4. $80,000

5-6. $40,000 -- FURIA, The MongolZ

7-8. $24,000 -- G2 Esports, FaZe Clan

9-12. $16,000 -- Team Falcons, 3DMAX, Aurora Gaming, Ninjas in Pyjamas

13-16. $10,000 -- Astralis, GamerLegion, Team Liquid, HEROIC