Team Vitality, The MongolZ advance at IEM Cologne

Field Level Media
28 Jul 2025, 05:10 GMT+10

(Photo credit: Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

Team Vitality and The MongolZ are headed to the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne playoffs in Germany.

Both squads won their Group A upper bracket semifinal matches Sunday, booking a spot in the upper bracket final and ensuring themselves a spot in the six-team tournament that begins Friday.

In Group B, MOUZ and Team Spirit advance to the upper bracket semis with wins in their group openers.

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 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 Sunday, Vitality swept past G2 Esports with a 13-5 win on Inferno and 13-10 win on Train. Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut of France posted 33 kills and a plus-8 kills-to-deaths differential in the win. Teammate William 'mezii' Merriman of the United Kingdom posted 32 kills and also had a plus-8.

The MongolZ also swept their match against Team Falcons, winning 13-9 on both Dust II and Mirage. Azbayar 'Senzu' Munkhbold led the all-Mongolian squad to victory with 45 kills and a plus-21.

MongolZ and Vitality will play in the upper bracket final on Tuesday.

Falcons will play FURIA in one lower bracket semifinal; G2 will face 3DMAX in the other semi. Both matches are Monday. FURIA got past Astralis in their lower bracket quarterfinal 2-0, winning 13-3 on Inferno and 13-4 Dust II. 3DMAX pulled off a reverse sweep against GamerLegion in their quarterfinal, losing 13-6 on Overpass before winning 13-11 on Inferno and escaping Dust II with a 22-20 double-overtime win.

In Group B, MOUZ swept Team Liquid 13-7 on Inferno and 13-9 on Train. A trio of players collected more than 30 kills for MOUZ, led by Hungary's Adam 'torzsi' Torzsas' 36 kills and plus-5. Team Spirit also swept their way into the upper bracket semis, beating HEROIC 16-14 in overtime on Ancient and 13-8 on Nuke. Russian Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov had a monster game for Spirit, posting 60 kills and a plus-30.

MOUZ will play Natus Vincere in one semifinal and Spirit will face Aurora Gaming in the other. Both semis are Monday as Natus Vincere and Aurora advanced with quarterfinal wins on Saturday.

Monday's matches:

Group A

--Team Vitality vs. FURIA in the lower-bracket semifinals

--GS Esports vs. 3DMAX in the lower-bracket semifinals

Group B

--MOUZ vs. Natus Vincer in the upper bracket semifinals

--Aurora Gaming vs. Team Spirit in the upper bracket semifinals

--Team Liquid vs. FaZe Clan in the lower bracket quarterfinals

--Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. HEROIC in the lower bracket quarterfinals

Intel Extreme Masters Cologne prize pool:

1. $400,000

2. $180,000