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In a shocking turn of events at the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Cologne 2024, G2 Esports and Team Spirit have now lost their first game of group stages to two underdog teams, SAW and The Mongolz. Both teams will now have to compete in the lower brackets.
G2 Esports in particular had a hard time keeping up with their opponents and completely dropped the ball in the opening game. The team had a horrible opening half with only four rounds in the bag and a worse closing half where the team only mustered a single round on the attacking side.
It was indeed a surprise for fans, however, it could be a one-time thing and fans were confident G2 would make a recovery, and for a while they did. The team secured a decent first half and things were looking great for the first few rounds after switching sides. However, SAW had a great comeback eight back-to-back rounds to hand another upset to G2 Esports and push them into the lower brackets.
Donk Gets Donked by The MongolZ
After their incredible run at the lower bracket of Play-In, The MongolZ have managed to take down Team Spirit. The first game saw Team Spirit challenge MongolZ in their own map pick, with the constant race to get ahead. Spirit managed to gain the upper hand, however, The MongolZ dragged the game into overtime to secure the victory.
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The following game did not work out for Team Spirit at all as they struggled to put rounds on the board. Following multiple losses in the beginning, Spirit managed a few rounds to equalize the score before handing their opponents the lead. That was it for Team Spirit, as fans never saw them step up in the second half.
Both SAW and The MongolZ will be facing each other in the Upper Bracket Semifinals. This is also a great payback opportunity for MongolZ after losing against the same team in the Play-Ins. On the other hand, G2 Esports matches against Team Spirit in the lower bracket, meaning one will be returning home.