IEM Cologne 2023: Fnatic and MOUZ advance to the Group Stage

During IEM Cologne 2023, Fnatic and MOUZ earned their spots in the Group Stage. Both teams won the two matches that they played on the first day of the event.

Meanwhile, MOUZ beat Ninjas in Pyjamas and Fnatic faced 9INE. They played two best-of-three (Bo3) maps on the opening day. On July 27, Apeks, Astralis, Monte, and FURIA will play more matches while the other teams will play one Bo3.

MOUZ had the first matchup of the day, where they went against The MongolZ. Even though the Mongolian team is an underdog in IEM Cologne 2023, MOUZ's win against them in a close double overtime game that had a 22-19 score gave the Europeans confidence needed for their next battle of the day.

On the other side of things, the team faced a strong Ninjas in Pyjamas roster. Ninjas in Pyjamas debuted in BLAST Premier Fall Groups and even won a tough game against Vitality back then.

But that didn't scare MOUZ at all. The team, led by young AWPer Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás, ended things quickly in the Bo3. In the first map, Nuke, the game was closer with MOUZ finishing it with a 16-12 advantage. As for the Inferno map, Ninjas in Pyjamas were decimated with a 16-7 score.

Fnatic also debuted its new roster at IEM Cologne 2023. In the opening match, the lineup faced the new Complexity roster as well. The European roster only beat Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski's new team after one overtime in a close 19-17.

In the classification match against 9INE, everything went a bit more smoothly. The 16-12 score in Ancient and 16-10 score in Vertigo weren't that far off, but during a game, Fnatic had clear control of every situation.

The second day of the IEM Cologne 2023 Play-In will result in two more teams advancing to the Group Stage. Eight teams will play for spots and four of them will say goodbye to the tournament.

Here are the next matches:

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