IEM Cologne 2022: G2 managed to defeat ENCE not without problems

Group stage matches are always interesting to watch, so today we’ll talk about the last meeting between G2 Esports and ENCE at IEM Cologne 2022.

Both teams got into the lower bracket as a result of losses in the first games of group A: ENCE lost with a struggle to Vitality (1-2), in turn, G2 lost the match to Movistar Riders (0-2) without resistance. Now they are fighting for the right to stay in the tournament.

List of maps

• G2 chose Dust2
• ENCE chose Ancient

Overpass, Inferno, Vertigo, Mirage were banned, Nuke stayed.

The first collision took place on the classic Dust2, and it ended, albeit with difficulty, but in favor of G2. After losing the first eight rounds without a chance, they had a good comeback in the next six, but unfortunately for them, the advantage was much larger and as a result, the first half of the match ended with a score of 9-6 in favor of ENCE. After switching to CT, G2 players gathered their strength and began to gradually equalize the score, bringing it to a value of 10-12. Then there were problems with the Valve servers and the round had to be replayed, but this did not change the situation in any way, and the hosts of the map confidently leveled the score. The final part was held in great tension, but G2 still managed to pull out the victory with a score of 16-13. The best result among the winners was shown by huNter finishing the match 25-18.

After switching to Ancient, an equally interesting game began, both teams gave their best, and the gap did not increase at all. Before the switchover, the score was only 8-7 in favor of ENCE. That all changed when G2 switched to TT, the side switch worked out well for them as they easily took the remaining nine rounds to end the match 16-8. The best result among the winners was shown by NiKo, who finished the game with a ratio of 33-15.

According to the results of the meeting, ENCE are eliminated from the tournament on the 13th-16th place, and, in turn, G2 go to the second round of the lower bracket, where NIP are already waiting for them.

IEM Cologne 2022 takes place from 5 to 17 July in Germany at the Hyatt Regency Cologne and LANXESS arena. As part of the championship, 24 teams from Europe, the CIS, Oceania, China, North and South America are fighting for a prize pool of $1,000,000, as well as rating points in the BLAST Premier table.

Interim results of IEM Cologne 2022

• 1st place: $400,000 + 3,200 BLAST Premier points
• 2nd place: $180,000 + 1,600 BLAST Premier points
• 3rd-4th place: $80,000 + 1,000 BLAST Premier points
• 5th-6th place: $40,000 + 300 BLAST Premier points
• 7th-8th place: $24,000 + 300 BLAST Premier points
• 9th-12th place: $16,000
• 13th-16th place: Heroic, ENCE - $10,000
• 17th-20th place: Sprout, TYLOO, Imperial Esports and BIG - $4,500
• 21st-24th place: paiN Gaming, Complexity Gaming, MIBR and ORDER — $2,500