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GUIDES
Simple Radar
© 2026 TLDR Media, All Rights Reserved.
We’ve got the fever. IEM Cologne fever.
Edition #384 | JUly 31st, 2023
Six games a day, all day long, with the best teams in the world. And NIP.
It’s like the World Cup, but without the human rights issues and with slightly more headshots.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
MOUZ
Today
Vitality
Astralis
Today
NIP
NAVI
Today
OG
G2
Today
FaZe
fnatic
Today
GL
C9
Today
Monte
Losers of Cologne so far
Cologne is where people come to win, but in saying that, it means someone has to lose. Let’s look at the teams that haven’t quite been up to scratch:
NAVI. Where do we start… They’ve only played 2 maps so far BUT it was in a BO3 against MOUZ that they lost 0-2. When you have the GOAT on your team you should be beating new teams like MOUZ.
It’s not all bad though. They have another chance to lose tomorrow as they meet OG. Let’s hope this extra day is time for JL and iM to settle in a little more. It’s been said to be the strangest roster move of the player break.
Coming off the back of a Major victory it’s not surprising that Vitality hammered OG 2-0. We’ve seen glimpses of OG’s brilliance but it looks like it’ll take a bit more time before it sticks. Regali has been an impressive addition but it’s not enough when facing ZywOo who’s just on another level. It’s a little bit unfair to judge them given they have faced the best team in the world right now – let’s see how they fair against NAVI.
Astralis losing and device being the only positive player? Nooooo… Wait. It’s normally BlameF who baits for stats. At least they took the first map against before losing 1-2 to G2.
Anyway, they aren’t going home yet but facing a strong-looking NIP tomorrow doesn’t bode well for them after that performance. It wasn’t that G2 did anything particularly amazing (except for m0NESY with that deagle, keep reading) they simply just shot better in the end.
All the losers mentioned live to fight another day in lower bracket, but over in Group B we’ve already got our first real losers.
9INE is going home. BUT they’ve looked good. Maybe not what people would have wanted but they did push both ENCE and a weaker Cloud9 to a 3-map affair. Individually they look great but there’s just something lacking as a team.
Lastly we have the The Mongolz. Although they shouldn’t be here, they won in everyone’s heart…
Mongolz Sadge
So close, Mongolz. So close.
TheMongolz came into Cologne with a multitude of questions hanging over them, and despite going out in the group stage, it’s fair to say they’ve answered quite a few of them, with aplomb.
mzinho, the 16 year old brother of the player he was replacing (imagine the family arguments at Christmas!), had about 20 maps on record before he took FURIA to the cleaners. 910 was a relative unknown who has turned out to be a gem.
TheMongolz were riding high; but they were given the unenviable task of trying to topple Heroic for their first game.
And they came so, so close.
TheMongolz were comfortable on Mirage, and truthfully were in charge for the entirety of the CT side - and looked to have done exactly the same on Overpass. At 15-13 up (!), after a wonderfully played T side, TheMongolz pulled off a ridiculous round.
Pulling Heroic to and fro, before finally finishing on the B site, TheMongolz looked like they might have done it. Sadly, though, a bit of a whiff from Techno and the pressure getting to them, and Heroic were back in it - and from there, Heroic were dominant.
TheMongolz were not easy to put away, though. They fought back from 18-15 to force a double OT, but couldn’t quite get it over the line.
Inferno, sadly, was a decent showing, but the wind was taken out of their sails. But to come that close to beating one of the greats, playing superbly and bringing hope to many an Asian CS fan was far more than expected.
Hope, however, oft precedes disappointment. TheMongolz ran over GamerLegion in map one of their lower bracket game, but were slapped right back on map two. Sadly, they collapsed on map three, giving up 11 T rounds to GL on Overpass.
They had one last bit of disappointment to hand out, though. They came all the way back to overtime, from 11-4 down, just to lose in OT.
Asian CS always disappoints. Just this time, in a more encouraging way.
Winners of Cologne
ENCE look fantastic.
Having started slow against a belligerent 9INE, ENCE woke the hell up to sneak that series in three, before slicing through a fnatic team who have looked very solid ‘til this point.
What’s most exciting about them is that for a team with a hell of a lot of firepower, it’s their T sides that have impressed more than their CT ones. There’s still a bit of room for them to get stronger, but each of their stars has had halves where they’ve taken over.
dycha has been snappy, Snappi looks like a star (at least on Nuke), Maden is reliable as ever, NertZ an assassin and SunPayus as domineering as he was on Movistar.
So far, at least.
MOUZ too have looked superb. We mentioned torzsi’s uptick in form, but it was frozen who looked phenomenal against NAVI. They play today against Team Vitality, who rolled OG up and smoked them. flameZ was the best player in the server.
They might be really scary. Like, unstoppable scary.
G2 were unconvincing in victory, and face FaZe Clan who were fashionably unconvincing in victory. It’s the FaZe brand, at this point. We might be embellishing somewhat - they stomped NIP on Overpass and Nuke, they just lost on Mirage. It happens.
G2 vs FaZe is at 3pm CEST. We would drop whatever you’re doing to watch it. Call in sick. Put the kids in a kennel. Whatever you have to do.
The last team we’d like to mention is Monte, who have been surprisingly robust. br0 looks… well, nothing like BOROS, but in genuinely good ways. He’s more disciplined, if not as explosive, but looks like a terrific player.
They lost to Heroic, but ran them close, and made the GamerLegion game essentially a non-event. Look out for ‘em.
Cologne has been a whirlwind. If you’ve not had time to tune in, it’s getting wild for the next two days. Get yourself on those damn streams!
EVERYTHING ELSE
❓🌎 There are no rules man, we’re lost…
😮 And now for something completely different
👨🦲✨ Looking fresh