Movistar Riders have secured their place in the upper bracket quarter-finals of the IEM Cologne 2022 Play-In stage after taking down MIBR. The champions of ESL Challenger Valencia were initially facing the prospect of dropping to the lower bracket, but a CT-side comeback propelled them to the victory, sending the Brazilians to face TYLOO for tournament survival.
Meanwhile, Vitality defeated the Chinese squad in the last best-of-one of the day. The French-Danish mix struggled to close out the game on the offensive, but the gap built during a dominant first half gave them enough room for error. Dan “apEX” Madesclaire‘s team will face Movistar Riders later today at 19:45 for a chance to reach the next stage of the event.
mopoz was a crucial piece in the Riders’ comeback
The Brazilians did not repeat the same mistake they made in Valencia and avoided playing Riders on Nuke, bringing the match to Ancient instead. MIBR then executed a great defensive side, pulling some effective CT aggression and getting Movistar Riders out of their comfort zone in the early stages as Matheus “Tuurtle” Anhaia was firing on all cylinders. It was a successful half for Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes‘s team, and they switched sides with a comfortable 11-4 lead.
Unfortunately for the Brazilians, the Spaniards had a few tricks of their own on the defense, made all the more effective by Alejandro “mopoz” Fernández-Quejo Cano‘s improving form. After taking the second pistol round, Movistar Riders flipped the game on its head and cruised through the half with only two round losses as they came back to close the match with a 16-13 scoreline.
Simultaneously on the B stream Vitality faced TYLOO on Overpass, where the Frenchmen made quick work of the Chinese squad with a soul-crushing 14-1 CT side. Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier played a solid half, but it was apEX to impress the most as he topped the scoreboard during his team’s defensive domination.
After switching sides Vitality struggled to close out the match, giving up eight consecutive rounds before finally sealing their victory with two hits on the B site to proceed to the upper bracket qualifying match.
