MOUZ, Team Spirit score key wins at IEM Cologne

MOUZ and Team Spirit clinched spots in the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne playoffs by earning 2-0 sweeps Monday in Germany.

MOUZ swept Natus Vincere and Team Spirit blanked Aurora Gaming in the Group B upper-bracket semifinals. The winners advanced to the upper-bracket final, but both are assured of spots in the six-team playoff bracket that begins Friday.

Elsewhere Monday, FaZe Clan and Ninjas in Pyjamas advanced in the Group B lower bracket, while FURIA and G2 Esports set up a showdown in the Group A lower bracket.

The group stage, which followed the completion of the play-in phase on Friday, consists of two double-elimination groups contesting best-of-three matches. The two group winners will advance directly to the semifinals, the two runners-up will move to the quarterfinals as high seeds, and the two third-place teams will head to the quarterfinals as low seeds.

The playoffs will be single elimination. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be best-of-three ahead of the best-of-five final on Aug. 3.

The winning team in the $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament will receive $400,000 and the runner-up will get $180,000.

On Monday, MOUZ bested Natus Vincere 13-10 on both Mirage and Nuke for the sweep. Adam "torzsi" Torzsas of Hungary had 40 kills and a plus-16 kills-to-deaths differential to guide MOUZ.

Team Spirit defeated Aurora 13-8 on Dust II and 13-10 on Nuke. Russian Danil "donk" Kryshkovets had a massive day for Spirit, racking up 60 kills on a plus-32 differential.

In the lower bracket of Group B, FaZe Clan handled Team Liquid 13-6 on Mirage and 13-2 on Ancient. FaZe's top performer was Slovakian David "frozen" Cernansky (33 kills, plus-20).

Ninjas in Pyjamas eliminated HEROIC, winning 13-4 on Train and 13-6 on Nuke. Portugal's Michel "ewjerkz" Pinto posted 38 kills and a plus-20 K-D to pace NiP.

Over in Group A, FURIA won the only 2-1 scoreline of the day by rallying past Team Falcons. FURIA fell 13-7 on Train before pulling out a 13-11 result on Mirage and a 13-7 win on Dust II. Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato of Brazil led FURIA with 49 kills on a plus-9.

Finally, G2 Esports topped 3DMAX 13-8 on Ancient and 13-6 on Inferno. Four players for G2 scored between 28 and 30 kills, and Spaniard Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia stood out with 29 kills on a plus-12 K-D.

The group stage concludes Tuesday with six matches:

--Team Vitality vs. The MongolZ (Group A upper-bracket final)

--FURIA vs. G2 Esports (Group A lower-bracket final)

--MOUZ vs. Team Spirit (Group B upper-bracket final)

--Aurora Gaming vs. FaZe Clan (Group B lower-bracket semifinal)

--Natus Vincere vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas (Group B lower-bracket semifinal)

--TBD vs. TBD (Group B lower-bracket final)

Intel Extreme Masters Cologne prize pool:

1. $400,000

2. $180,000

3-4. $80,000

5-6. $40,000

7-8. $24,000

9-12. $16,000 -- Team Falcons, 3DMAX, two teams TBD

13-16. $10,000 -- Astralis, GamerLegion, Team Liquid, HEROIC

17-20. $4,500 -- paiN Gaming, Virtus.pro, TYLOO, FlyQuest

21-24. $2,500 -- BIG, MIBR, Complexity, B8