Vitality, Spirit earn byes as IEM Cologne playoff field finalized

Team Vitality and Team Spirit earned byes into the playoff semifinals as the field of six was set at the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne event Tuesday in Germany.

Vitality won Group A by beating The MongolZ 2-0 in the Group A upper-bracket final. Spirit took first in Group B by edging MOUZ 2-1 in their upper-bracket final.

The second- and third-place finishers in each group -- The MongolZ, FURIA, MOUZ and Natus Vincere -- also advanced and will play in the quarterfinal round on Friday.

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 playoffs will be single elimination. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be best-of-three ahead of the best-of-five final on Sunday.

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 Tuesday, Team Vitality bested The MongolZ 13-5 on Mirage and 13-8 on Inferno. Vitality star Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut of France led all players with 43 kills and a plus-22 kills-to-deaths differential.

The other Group A match saw FURIA shut out G2 Esports 2-0 in the lower-bracket final to take third place. FURIA won 13-6 on Dust II and 16-14 in overtime on Inferno, with Danil "molodoy" Golubenko of Kazakhstan leading the way with 46 kills and a plus-25 K-D.

In the Group B upper-bracket final, Team Spirit won 16-13 in OT on Ancient, but MOUZ took a multi-overtime battle on Mirage, 22-19. Spirit rebounded and scored a 13-6 win on Overpass to decide the match. They were led by Russians Danil "donk" Kryshkovets (76 kills, plus-11) and Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov (73 kills, plus-23).

In the lower bracket, FaZe Clan advanced with a 2-0 semifinal win over Aurora Gaming while Natus Vincere rallied past Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1. NaVi lost 13-9 on Nuke, but won 13-3 on Inferno and 13-11 on Train to move on.

The ensuing final saw NaVi defeat FaZe 13-4 on Ancient and 13-10 on Inferno for the sweep that knocked FaZe out of the competition. All five NaVi players finished with positive K-Ds in a balanced effort; Romania's Mihai "iM" Ivan had a match-high 39 kills and plus-19 differential.

The tournament continues Friday with two quarterfinal matches:

--MOUZ vs. FURIA

--The MongolZ vs. Natus Vincere

Intel Extreme Masters Cologne prize pool:

1. $400,000

2. $180,000

3-4. $80,000

5-6. $40,000

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

17-20. $4,500 -- paiN Gaming, Virtus.pro, TYLOO, FlyQuest

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

--Field Level Media