Can Team Liquid stay alive in the lower bracket? – G2 bound to face Gambit

The first teams were eliminated from IEM Cologne 2021. G2 and Team Liquid barely managed to stay alive.

Day two of the IEM Cologne 2021 main event had several nail-biter games. Team Liquid and G2 struggled to stay alive, and now must face strong teams. Gambit have continued to cruise by after a slight challenge in Ninjas In Pyjamas. Though once two team’s hopes were ended today, we plenty of matches to look forward to.

Team Liquid barely stay alive

Continuing their trend of tight, hotly contested series, Team Liquid pulled out a 2-1 victory. Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo took control of the first map, Nuke, finding 23 frags and 94 ADR. Their strong win on Nuke (16-9) proved to be the most one-sided map of the series. Robin “ropz” Kool put up another incredible performance on Dust2 (12-16).

Despite dropping out of the event early, Ropz’s remarkable performance has made him one of the most notable figures of the tournament thus far. In an OT-win on Inferno, Team Liquid barely managed to close out the series (28-25).

G2 slays BIG Clan, but can they defeat Gambit?

G2 continued their upper bracket run to the surprise of many. BIG Clan had a good showing in both the play-ins and against Virtus.pro, however now find themselves on the verge of elimination. In a series of relative landslides, G2’s IGL, Nikola “NiKo” Kovac, proved to be the difference maker.

Niko found 46 total kills and 83.7 ADR that granted him the highest overall rating of the series (1.31). One of G2’s new addition in 2021, Niko has greatly enabled the team. Now bound to face off against Gambit, G2 will perhaps see their greatest test of the year.

Also read:

• These four teams advanced to the main event of IEM Cologne
• CS:GO 101 – How to play Train

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Image Credit: G2 Esports