Team Liquid advance to IEM Cologne 2022 semi-finals

Team Liquid beat Movistar Riders 2:1 (Ancient 9:16; Inferno 16:14; Vertigo).

Team Liquid vs. Movistar Riders

1. Liquid removed Nuke
2. Movistar Riders removed Dust2
3. Liquid picked Ancient
4. Movistar Riders picked Inferno
5. Liquid removed Overpass
6. Movistar Riders removed Mirage
7. Vertigo was left over

1) The first map of the confrontation began with a confident defense against the Spaniards from Movistar Riders, Liquid didn’t do much, but the half could not be so devastating because Liquid gave up several of their rounds that they were supposed to win. According to the results of the first half, Movistar Riders win 11:4. After switching sides, Team Liquid lose the second pistol round, and after it they tried to win the force for several rounds in a row, which they failed to do. The Spaniards played to 15:4 and only after that Team Liquid began to show good rounds in defense, but it is very difficult to make a streak of 11 rounds even for the strong side of Ancient. Movistar Riders 16:9 Team Liquid.

2) On the Inferno map, the Liquid team started on defense, in which they could not cope with the pressure from the Spaniards, at one point the score was 6:1 in favor of Movistar Riders. The horses managed to take 5 rounds for the defense, which looked like an easy 2:0 for MR, especially considering the 33% of Inferno wins from North American players. But as soon as the Liquids went over to the attack, they finally won their first pistol round, although after that they lost to force, and only then they won the force themselves. Team Liquid began to gain round after round for the terrorists, but Movistar Riders smashed Liquid in force rounds. According to the results of the second half, MR took 4 rounds, three of which were with inferior purchases. A powerful coup from Team Liquid thanks to their fast pace for the attacking side led the team to victory on the opponent's choice. Team Liquid 16:14 Movistar Riders.

3) Vertigo started with a 3 vs 5 pistol round loss to Liquid, who played on the attacking side in the first half. The Spaniards had a slight dominance, because in the weapons round no one died, which greatly strengthened their economy. But in the next force round, ELIGE wins a clutch with Deagle and MR has an order of magnitude less money. After that, Team Liquid quickly reach the mark of 5 rounds, but MR adjusts to them and Liquid cannot reach dominance.

Team Liquid go to the semi-finals where their opponent will be the world's top 2 FaZe Clan.

Movistar Riders exit IEM Cologne 2022 on the first day of the playoffs. The team shares 5th-6th place with MOUZ and earns $40,000 + 300 BLAST Premier points.

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: MOUZ — $40,000 + 300 BLAST Premier points
• 7th-8th place: Ninjas in Pajamas and FURIA Esports — $24,000 + 300 BLAST Premier points
• 9th-12th place: Team Vitality, Team Spirit, Cloud9 and G2 Esports — $16,000
• 13th-16th place: Heroic, Outsiders, 00NATION and 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