ENCE and G2 Esports both won their semifinal matches on Saturday at the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne event in Germany.
ENCE beat Team Vitality 2-1 and G2 Esports swept Astralis 2-0 as both squads punched their ticket to Sunday’s grand final.
The $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began last Wednesday with 16 teams competing in the double-elimination play-in stage. Opening matches were best-of-one, with all additional matches best-of-three.
Eight teams advanced to the group stage, which also featured eight teams that previously qualified: G2 Esports, FaZe Clan, Team Vitality, ENCE, Heroic, Cloud9, Natus Vincere and GamerLegion.
A pair of group stages, both double-elimination with matches best-of-three, completed play Tuesday. Each group winner earned a berth in the playoff semifinals while the upper-bracket runners-up and lower-bracket winners got the four quarterfinal slots. The single-elimination playoffs run Friday through Sunday, with the quarterfinals and semifinals best-of-three and the grand final best-of-five.
The championship side will receive $400,000 and a berth in the 2024 IEM Katowice event. The runner-up will get $180,000.
On Saturday, ENCE opened with a narrow 16-14 win on Mirage before Vitality leveled the match with a 16-14 victory on Nuke. ENCE then cruised to a 16-7 triumph on Vertigo to advance. Spain’s Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia finished with 76 kills and a plus-30 kills-deaths ratio, both of which were match highs.
Lotan “Spinx” Giladi of Israel paced Team Vitality with 59 kills.
G2 had a much easier time with Astralis, winning 16-12 on Ancient before completing the sweep with a 16-9 victory on Inferno. G2 Esports used a balance effort to reach the grand final, as three of their players recorded at least 40 kills while finishing with a positive K-D. Nicolai “device” Reedtz led the all-Danish losing side with 41 kills and a plus-8 differential.
The tournament will conclude on Sunday with the grand final:
–ENCE vs. G2 Esports
Intel Extreme Masters Cologne prize pool
1. $400,000, 2024 IEM Katowice berth
2. $180,000
3-4. $80,000 — Team Vitality, Astralis
5-6. $40,000 — Cloud9, Heroic
7-8. $24,000 — GamerLegion, Natus Vincere
9-12. $16,000 — Fnatic, Monte, FaZe Clan, MOUZ
13-16. $10,000 — The MongolZ, 9INE, OG, Ninjas in Pyjamas
17-20. $4,500 — FURIA Esports, Apeks, Team Liquid, Imperial Esports
21-24. $2,500 — Into the Breach, Complexity Gaming, BIG, Grayhound Gaming
–Field Level Media