by The IEM Cologne main event kicks off on July 7 with 16 of the best Counter-Strike teams from all over the world chasing a US$400,000 grand prize as well as 3,200 BLAST Premier ranking points. The play-in tournament is already in full swing, where 16 teams will battle it out for the last eight spots in the main event.
The eight teams who automatically qualified for the IEM Cologne main event are:
- FaZe Clan (#1 team in Europe)
- Natus Vincere (#2 team in Europe)
- Cloud9 (#3 team in Europe)
- G2 Esports (#4 team in Europe)
- Ninjas In Pyjamas (#5 team in Europe)
- ENCE (#6 team in Europe)
- FURIA Esports (#1 team in NA)
- Team Liquid (#2 team in NA)
BEST BET – Natus Vincere
As the number two ranked team in the world, NaVi will begin IEM Cologne as +175 favourites with esports betting sites. The BLAST Premier Spring Final champions have not played any competitive Counter-Strike since taking out the US$200,000 prize over Team Vitality in the grand final. NaVi have been ultra-consistent in 2022, with the second-best team in the world only finishing lower than fourth once when they finished 5th-8th at ESL Pro League Season 15. In their last two events, as mentioned, NaVi won the BLAST Premier Spring Final and they also finished second to FaZe Clan at the PGL Major Antwerp.
Any team with Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev on their roster will always be a massive chance to take out any event they participate in. He is considered by many people as the best to grace the CS:GO servers, with multiple event wins, including a Major and a Major MVP. The 24-year-old has been ranked in the top 10 players for the last six years and was ranked as the no.1 player in 2018 and 2021. NaVi were forced into making a roster change after their in-game leader Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov chose to take some personal leave away from the game, therefore they have added Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev, who has seemed to fit in perfectly for what the team has needed.
Natus Vincere outright winner
BEST VALUE – G2 Esports
G2 Esports will enter IEM Cologne as a +1100 outsider with online bookmakers even though they are the no.6-ranked team in the world. Since their 9th-11th place finish at the PGL Major Antwerp back in May of this year, G2 have been really competitive and at times have looked like they could have gone on and won both of the two events they competed in next. Be that as it may, G2 ended up finishing 5th-6th at IEM Dallas 2022 and 3rd-4th at BLAST Premier Spring Final.
G2 Esports will be in Group A to start the tournament. If they can make it to the upper-bracket final, and even if they lose that game, they will be a dangerous team entering the six-team playoff bracket. With their MVP and the no.3-ranked player in the world Nikola “NiKo” Kovac alongside their new in-game leader Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and rookie superstar Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, G2 Esports are one of those teams who can get on a roll and push any team at this event.
