Team Vitality among winners as group stage opens at IEM Cologne

Team Vitality, GS Esports, Team Falcons, The MongolZ, Natus Vincere and Aurora Gaming won their upper-bracket quarterfinal matches on Saturday as the group stage began in the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne event in Germany.

All of the wins were 2-0 sweeps with the exception of Natus Vincere's 2-1 victory over FaZe Clan in Group B.

The group stage, which followed the completion of the play-in phase on Friday, consists 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 in the $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament will receive $400,000 and the runner-up will get $180,000.

On Saturday, Team Vitality swept Astralis in Group A, winning 13-11 on Nuke and 13-8 on Overpass. William "mezii" Merriman of the United Kingdom led Team Vitality with 37 kills and a plus-6 kills-to-deaths differential.

G2 Esports swept FURIA with wins on Dust II (13-11) and Inferno (13-8). Guatemala's Maro "malbsMd" Samayoa notched 33 kills and a plus-6 K-D.

Team Falcons went 2-0 against GamerLegion, triumphing 13-11 on Nuke and 13-6 on Mirage. The Falcons' Nikola "NiKo" Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina led all players with 39 kills and a plus-17 K-D differential.

The MongolZ opened against 3DMAX with a dominant 13-2 win on Nuke, followed by a 13-10 victory on Ancient. The all-Mongolian squad was led by Sodbayar "Techno" Munkhbold with 34 kills and a plus-11, and Garidmagnai "bLitz" Byambasuren with 34 kills and a plus-8.

Over in Group B, Natus Vincere dropped the opener to FaZE 13-11 on Ancient before rallying with wins on Mirage (13-9) and Nuke (13-5). Ukraine's Valerly "b1t" Vakhovskiy led all players with 55 kills and a plus-17.

Also in Group B, Aurora Gaming swept Ninjas in Pyjamas in a tight battle, 13-11 on Dust II and 19-15 on Train. The all-Turkish squad was led by Ozgur "woxic" Eker with 53 kills and a plus-23 K-D differential.

The group stage continues on Sunday with four Group A matches:

--Team Vitality vs. GS Esports in the upper-bracket semifinals

--Team Falcons vs. Mongolz in the upper-bracket semifinals

--Australis vs. FURIA in the lower-bracket quarterfinals

--GamerLegion vs. 3DMAX in the lower-bracket quarterfinals

Group B matches on Sunday:

--MOUZ vs. Team Liquid in the upper-bracket quarterfinals

--HEROIC vs. Team Spirit in the upper-bracket quarterfinals

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 -- paiN Gaming, Virtus.pro, TYLOO, FlyQuest

21-24. $2,500 -- BIG, MIBR, Complexity, B8

--Field Level Media