IEM Cologne Major Stage Two Round One Recap: M80, Stage One teams struggle as Stage Two invites reign supreme

The second stage at IEM Cologne is underway, with the first of two rounds of best-of-one matches having just concluded. The teams who came into this portion of the event after qualifying from Stage One couldn't keep that momentum in the first round of games.

M80, who were faced with a matchup v. G2 to begin Stage 2, fell behind early and weren't able to get themselves back into the game. Elias "s1n" Stein's men were taken down by G2, 13-8 on Mirage; a scoreline which flatters M80, since they were trailing 12-2 early in the second half.

TYLOO, who scraped by Stage One after reverse-sweeping a 0-2 record to a 3-2 mark, were one of just two teams from the first stage to win their Stage Two opener. The Chinese squad beat paiN 13-9 to bolster their hopes of a Stage Three berth.

The only other Stage One qualifier to come up with the goods was MIBR, who advanced from Stage One despite falling to THUNDERdOWNUNDER in the opening match of that stage. MIBR were triumphant in the Brazilian derby over Legacy, winning 13-8 on Nuke.

Spirit, who come into Stage Two as favorites to go 3-0, and BetBoom met in an all-Russian affair, where Spirit held serve on Mirage and won 13-5.

• G2 13-8 M80
• TYLOO 13-9 paiN
• MIBR 13-8 Legacy
• Spirit 13-5 BetBoom

In the other matchups, FUT squeaked past B8 13-11, BIG were felled by Monte 13-8, 9z beat FlyQuest 13-9, and Astralis stomped GamerLegion 13-4.

Here are the matchups in Round Two of Stage Two at IEM Cologne, which are starting shortly:

• FUT v. TYLOO
• Astralis v. 9z
• G2 v. Monte
• BIG v. paiN
• BetBoom v. GamerLegion
• Legacy v. FlyQuest
• Spirit v. MIBR
• M80 v. B8