Outsiders through to IEM Cologne group stage over BIG

Outsiders have advanced to the group stage of IEM Cologne on their first try, claiming a successful 2-0 victory over BIG in the upper bracket following wins on Inferno and Dust2 to become the third team to qualify after Heroic and Spirit made it through earlier in the day.

The loss is a disappointment for BIG as they have failed to convert the momentum from winning the Roobet Cup over FaZe just one week prior, but Johannes “⁠tabseN⁠” Wodarz‘s men still have another opportunity to advance via the lower bracket, where they will face the winner of the elimination match between Complexity and Astralis.

BIG were the ones to take an early lead on Outsiders‘ map pick of Inferno, recovering a pair of 3vs5 situations to get off to a 4-1 CT start. From there though, they were quickly left looking out of sorts, rarely in control of the pace of the map as Jame and company pushed up to a 9-6 lead by halftime. A flawless pistol round further helped extend that lead, momentum from the win converting into a four-round spree and a 13-6 scoreline in Outsiders‘ favor.

It was pistols from BIG that put a halt to that run of rounds, and the German team made a strong case to steal away the map as they began to gain ground on the attack. A handful of late round situations only narrowly failed to go the way of Outsiders as BIG closed the gap to 13-12, but that comeback effort was put to a halt at the final hurdle as the Russian team pulled their defense together to edge out victory, 16-13.

A pistol win into a three-round head start gave BIG the early edge on Dust2, with them then coming out on top of a back-and-forth battle to push up to a 6-3 lead. That would prove to be all they could get in the half though as Outsiders seized control of the map, BIG‘s lead rapidly dwindling as Jame‘s troops carried momentum into the second half by winning twelve rounds straight to hit match point. With their backs against the wall, BIG fought to keep themselves in contention and managed to win seven rounds in a row, but again were halted just ahead of forcing overtime as Outsiders secured another 16-13 win to take the series.