Mousesports qualify for IEM Cologne after a thrilling match against Evil Geniuses.
Ropz and Frozen show that they belong at the IEM Cologne Main Event. 16 teams have been decided for the main event. Can Mousesports survive?
Mousesports were in hot water heading into Flashpoint 3. Rusty communication, a shallow map pool, and worrying signs from the stars of the roster showed no signs that the team had what it takes without Finn “karrigan” Andersen. But the return of David “frozen” Cernansky and Robin “ropz” Kool led mousesports to steal the European RMR from under the noses of G2 and Heroic and raise eyebrows before they returned to the LAN stage in Cologne.
IEM Cologne's Rocky Start
Right out of the gate, they shut down North America’s hopes by crushing Bad News Bears on Nuke, 16-7. The firepower advantage that mousesports housed proved to be too tall an order for Peter “ptr” Gurney and the international roster marched on to face the Ninjas in Pyjamas for an early qualification slot at the main event.
The Swedish squad immediately put an end to the shenanigans of mousesports with an outclassing in the veto and on the server. A revitalized Nicolas “Plopski” Gonzalez Zamora and a deadly performance from Nicolai “device” Reedtz on Ancient shut down any chances from ropz taking over the game and sent the lineup packing to the lower bracket.
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Rising above the North American Opponents
Their final opponents, Evil Geniuses, began Day 2 in emphatic fashion against the ViCi Gaming squad. The North Americans stole the show on both maps of Inferno and Mirage, regardless of the heroics from Yi “JamYoung” Yang, 16-5 and 16-7. Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz’s crew were heating up and mousesports was all that remained. But the international behemoth proved too difficult to conquer.
A stunning T-side from ropz stunted any real chances for the Evil Geniuses roster to climb back into Nuke, especially after his marvelous 2v5 ace. Nevertheless, a great second half pistol had EG right back into contention to sway the chances back in the North Americans’ favor. But Frederik “acoR” Gyldstrand dialed in on the CT side alongside his Estonian counterpart and gritted down a map victory.
The ferocity mousesports brought much of the same on Inferno, regardless of the return of Stanislaw and Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte. Frozen and ropz became the stars that karrigan molded them to be and they took over the game. Now they lock a spot in the main event of IEM Cologne. They await their clash against the online champions, Gambit. A matchup that pits a European champion and the world’s champion leaves the globe in bated breath for tomorrow’s games.
IEM Cologne’s main event kicks off tomorrow with the aforementioned Gambit vs Mousesports. The debut of Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo on LAN with Liquid arrives versus NiP. G2 takes on Complexity with the return of Niko “NiKo” Kovac. Virtus.Pro look to dust themselves off after their CIS RMR woes with their opening round against BIG. Lucas “honda” Cano’s first big time LAN starts against a dangerous looking Vitality. The undertaker, Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, begins his destruction against the Aussies of Renegades.
The culmination of the season is here. Tune into ESL’s broadcast tomorrow and look for all the IEM Cologne coverage right here at esports.gg.
