Natus Vincere soar into Group A upper-bracket final at IEM Cologne

Natus Vincere completed a 2-0 sweep of Astralis on Sunday to advance to the Group A upper-bracket final in group-stage action at the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne in Germany.

With the victory, Natus Vincere will face SAW for a spot in the semifinals of the playoffs. The loser of the Group A upper-bracket final will land in the quarterfinals of the playoffs as a high seed.

SAW beat The MongolZ 2-1 on Sunday.

Sixteen teams started in the double-elimination play-in stage of the $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament.

The group stage, which began on Saturday and runs through Tuesday, features two double-elimination groups of eight. The group winners move directly to the playoff semifinals. The group runners-up advance to the playoff quarterfinals as high seeds, and the groups' third-place teams go to the playoff quarterfinals as low seeds.

The single-elimination playoffs begin on Friday and end next Sunday. All tournament matches are best-of-three with the exception of the grand final, which will be best-of-five. The champion earns berths in the IEM Katowice event and the BLAST Premier World Final while also pocketing $400,000.

On Sunday, Natus Vincere prevailed 13-4 on Ancient and 13-7 on Mirage. Romania's Mihai "iM" Ivan led the winners with 35 kills and a plus-18 kill-death differential.

SAW were forced to rally, falling 16-13 on Ancient before picking up a 13-7 win on Nuke. They then took Anubis 13-10 to remain in the upper bracket. Michel "ewjerkz" Pinto was SAW's only player with a positive K-D (plus-nine). He racked up 61 kills for the all-Portuguese squad.

In Group A lower-bracket quarterfinal action, paiN Gaming came back to beat 9z Team 2-1 and G2 Esports blanked Team Spirit 2-0.

paiN Gaming dropped a 13-11 decision on Anubis, then won on Dust II (13-8) and Nuke (13-9).

G2 Esports cruised to a pair of blowouts, taking Nuke 13-3 and Mirage 13-1.

Four Group B teams also played on Sunday, with MOUZ earning a 2-1 victory over Team Falcons and Team Vitality shutting out FURIA Esports 2-0 in upper-bracket quarterfinal matches.

MOUZ sandwiched victories on Nuke (13-6) and Ancient (13-9) around a 13-11 setback on Vertigo. Team Vitality marched to a 13-3 rout on Inferno before blasting FURIA Esports, 13-2, on Mirage.

Group-stage action continues Monday with six matches:

--The MongolZ vs. paiN Gaming (Group A lower-bracket semifinal)

--Astralis vs. G2 Esports (Group A lower-bracket semifinal)

--MOUZ vs. Complexity Gaming (Group B upper-bracket semifinal)

--FaZe Clan vs. Team Vitality (Group B upper-bracket semifinal)

--Team Falcons vs. Virtus.pro (Group B lower-bracket quarterfinal)

--Team Liquid vs. FURIA Esports (Group B lower-bracket quarterfinal)

Intel Extreme Masters Cologne prize pool, with money and BLAST Premier points

1. $400,000, 3,000 points

2. $180,000, 2,000 points

3-4. $80,000, 1,200 points

5-6. $40,000, 500 points

7-8. $24,000, 300 points

9-12. $16,000, no points

13-16. $10,000, no points -- 9z Team, Team Spirit

17-20. $4,500, no points -- BIG, HEROIC, MIBR, Eternal Fire

21-24. $2,500, no points -- ALTERNATE aTTaX, 3DMAX, Imperial Esports, FlyQuest

--Field Level Media