With G2 lifting the trophy and IEM Cologne coming to a close, BLIX goes over the main takeaways from the Tier-1 event.
Contents
G2 are back on top
Rasmus âHooXiâ Nielsenâs G2 arrived in Cologne without a tournament win since IEM Katowice back in February, having recorded a single top-four placement at BLAST Premier Spring Final in the rest of 2023. Even as transfer rumors piled up in the off-season the quintet stuck together and once again hit peak form in a premier eventâ taking home the trophy with statement wins over Astralis, FaZe, Vitality and ENCE. The high quality of opponents G2 faced only stands to further reinforce the significance of this run, which once again raises expectations for the team built around Nikola âNiKoâ KovaÄ.
As much as G2âs run was a prime example of team effort, NiKo was the best player in Cologne, topping the rating charts as a rifler and recording a staggering 61% success rate on his numerous opening kill attempts. Russian AWPer Ilya âm0nesyâ Osipov once again proved to be a world-class sniper, dominating in groups and ending as the eventâs second-best player, but NiKo was still the X factor in G2âs playoff matches. Making life even easier for HooXi, Nemanja âhuNter-â KovaÄ recorded the second-best big event rating of his career and matched his Katowice performance, showcasing how scary G2 are in their peak.
Read More: HooXi: “I don’t think many people expected us to win this one”
While NiKo and G2 were unable to secure a Major title in CS:GO; failing to qualify for IEM Rio 2022 and crashing out of the BLAST Paris Major under HooXiâs leadership, such outstanding performances at the two most prestigious LANs on the calendar have finally pushed experts and fans to acknowledge the true potential of the quintet. Now, G2 will look to establish themselves as the clear #1 before the transition to CS2, taking on the best teams in the world in the Saudi-based Gamers8 event before returning to Europe for the 18th season of ESL Pro League: will they take the next step, or will inconsistency have the better of them again?
ENCE establish themselves as contenders
While a second-place finish will not be satisfactory to Danish IGL Marco âSnappiâ Pfeiffer, ENCE are now a real contender and the real surprise package of 2023. Guy âNertZâ Iluzâs addition back in February finally gave ENCE an elite-level round closer, and Alvaro âSunPayusâ Garcia evolved into an astonishingly flexible tier-one threatâ as his domination of Mathieu âZywOoâ Herbaut in the Cologne semi-finals has again proven. Under Snappiâs leadership, ENCE have secured a top-four finish at all three non-Major big events they attended in 2023, with an unexpected title run at IEM Dallas being their crowning achievement.
If G2 set themselves apart from the rest of the competition because of exceptional individual talent, Snappiâs decisive and effective calling has been ENCEâs strongest asset so far. All of their runs this year came with no more than a single player in the eventâs top ten players, with the teamâs four riflers taking turns partnering SunPayus as its driving force. Just in Cologne PaweÅ âdychaâ Dycha shone in the teamâs troubled opening match against 9INE, NertZ dominated Heroic with multiple clutches on Mirage, Pavle âMadenâ BoÅ¡koviÄ dismantled Vitality on Vertigo and Snappi top-fragged on Anubis, the only map ENCE secured against G2.
However, ENCEâs biggest strength is also their biggest weakness. As SunPayus failed to replicate his T-side form in the final against G2, ENCE found themselves unable to break through G2âs defense and recorded a measly nine offensive rounds across Nuke, Mirage and Ancient. Neither Dycha, nor Maden, nor IGL Snappi recorded more than a 40% win rate in their opening duels on the T side, as individual heroics continuously saved ENCEâs run. The line between flexibility and inconsistency is scarily thin. Nonetheless, the future is still looking bright for ENCE, as even with all these issues pressure molded Snappi into an elite leader.
Astralis are the winners of the off-season
As visa issues prevented Cloud9 from fielding their new CIS superteam in Cologne, at least during the group stage, all eyes were on the many other teams who had made changes in the summer shuffle. Unexpectedly the most improved quintet were the Danes of Astralis, who recovered from an early competitive loss to G2 to secure their first big even top-four since IEM Cologne 2022. Led by legendary four-times Major winner Nicolai âdeviceâ Reedtz, Astralis eliminated NiP, MOUZ, NaVi and Heroic before once again falling to the international G2 superteam in the semi-finals.
The start of Benjamin âblameFâ Bremerâs return to the IGL role has been nothing short of exceptional, as the Danish superstarâs solid calling combined with a valuable 1.16 rating. Together with device, whose return to dominance has similarly continued, the Danish rifler forms an elite duo capable of challenging any team. Even more impressive was Astralisâ recruitment: while their individual performances were disappointing, both Johannes âb0RUPâ Borup and Victor âStaehrâ Staehr filled their roles perfectly, the first as a jack-of-all-trades support and hard entry and the second as a proactive CT side rifler.
Read More: Staehr on Buzz: “When he pops off, there’s nothing you can do”
The new signings and subsequent role changes allowed Christian âBuzzâ Andersen to finally showcase some of his potential, as the youngster dropped 31 kills in Astralisâ Overpass win over NaVi and followed it up with 49 in 50 rounds against world #1 Heroic. If Staehr can find his footing, matching the performances he was capable of in Sprout, Buzzâs peaks would make Astralis a scary opponent for even the most established teams. Whatâs left to see is if the Danes will be able to replicate this performance across their next eventsâ especially as their Cologne run heavily relied on a 5-1 winning record on Ancient.
FaZeâs superteam keeps stumbling
FaZe were the undisputed best team of 2022, taking the top spot in four premier events, including the Antwerp Major, and securing a plethora of top-four finishes during the year. 2023 has not been kind to Finn âkarriganâ Andersenâs squad, who took first place at EPL Season 17 but only recorded two further playoff appearances. The issues were compounded by long-time coach Robert âRobbaNâ Dahlström leaving the team, as the international quintet arrived in Cologne trialing former teammate Filip “â NEOâ ” Kubski for the position. FaZe only took a single win in Germany, overcoming NiP from a map down before falling to NaVi and G2.
As we had already pointed out back in Malta, the most worrying aspect of FaZeâs drought is that it cannot be attributed to a significant drop in the playersâ individual level. Both Helvijs âbrokyâ Saukants and Robin âropzâ Kool are still consistent performers, although often far from single-handedly carrying the team over the line, not unlike HÃ¥vard ârainâ Nygaard. Russel âTwistzzâ Van Dulken is having a relatively disappointing season, but heâs still capable of impressive peaks. A weak map pool might be part of the problem, especially as FaZe lacks a home map they can comfortably and consistently fall back on.
All pressure will be on karrigan to rebuild the teamâs playbook as the transition to CS2 becomes closer and closer. While there will be calls for roster changes, especially if the team cannot bounce back in ESL Pro League, giving the roster time to settle under NEOâs new leadership will be the winning choice. As shown by stats like FaZe being the worst team at trading in Cologne on the T side, the team should first and foremost look to regain its composure in matches, shedding the pressure to perform that has been affecting them for the past months to finally play as an unit again.
NiP hit rock bottom
NiP seemed to have found the solution to its struggles in the off-season, with Hampus âhampusâ Poser returning from a six-month-long hiatus to replace disappointing IGL Aleksi âAleksibâ Virolainen. While on paper his partnership with Kristian âk0nfigâ Wienecke and Ludvig âBrollanâ Brolin would form a scary and hyper-aggressive rifling trio, hampus has failed to even remotely match his peak form, ending the event as the lowest-rated player with Brollan not far ahead. The Swedes left NiP toothless, as the team beat FaZe on Mirage before collapsing out of Cologne by collecting only 24 rounds across four maps.
NiPâs conundrum looks to be one of poor role distribution: while Danil âheadtr1ckâ Valitov is slowly turning into a solid AWPer and Fredrik âREZâ Sterner has embraced his new hard anchor roles, the rifling trio failed to show up when it mattered. Brollan and k0nfigâs passion for opening fights has deprived hampus of most of his space-taking plays, and almost always leaves the Ukrainian sniper deep in the back lines with little to no chance at having impact. The free-form system could work if both performed at a high level, as shown in NiPâs only map win, where Brollan and k0nfigâs space-taking allowed hampus and headtr1ck to rack up kills, but such a playstyle can quickly become predictable as more and more setups are revealed.
Read More: headtr1ck: “Now I have a bit more freedom”
The offensive side worked better for the Swedish-majority lineup, as Brollan performed relatively well in the opening kill department. But hampusâ team often looked lost in the mid-rounds, often failing to convert man advantage situations. This general lack of tactical depth, which almost resembled unpreparedness, was even more crippling when NiP fell behind in the early round, as they converted an abysmal 6% of the rounds they took the opening death in, in part due to overextensions which didnât allow for trades to come through. While itâs still early days, the Swedish outfit showed very little to be hopeful about in Cologne.