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Intel(r) Extreme Masters Cologne 2023 is over. G2 Esports emerged victorious in a fierce battle between 24 of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s (CS:GO’s) best teams around the globe. The competition took place from July 26th through August 6th. The final three days were held in front of over 37,000 fans in the iconic LANXESS Arena in Cologne.
ESL’s flagship LANXESS event saw many record breaking moments. The tournament sold out faster than any previous ESL event held in Cologne, and also had the highest viewership average for any other esports events hosted in Germany.
Play-in Stage started on the 26th of July. 16 teams competed for the eight top spots. The Group Stage began on the 29th of July. Eight teams that had qualified directly and the eight top teams from the Play In Stage were split into two eight-team groups and faced off against each other. Astralis Cloud9 ENCE G2 Esports HEROIC Team Vitality then went on to compete in the Live Playoffs from August 4-6.
Team Vitality dominated the first Quarter-Final by beating Cloud9 2-0. In the second Quarter-Final, Danish teams HEROIC versus Astralis faced off against each other. Astralis won 2-0. In the Semi-Finals, ENCE, a French esports organization, and Team Vitality from Finland fought it out in three rounds of intense competition. ENCE was the first to win 2-1 and secure a place in the Grand Final. G2 Esports dominated the second Semi-Final, beating Astralis by a score of 2-0 to advance to the Grand Final.
G2 Esports won the first two rounds of this best-of-5 Grand Final, taking a 2-0 lead over ENCE. ENCE dominated map 3 and despite G2 Esports catching up they were unable win the Grand Final. The Grand Final went into the fourth round.
G2 Esports, after a tough and thrilling match, beat ENCE 3-1 to win the coveted IEM Cologne Trophy. They also took home $400,000 from the total $1,000,000 prize pool and joined Team Vitality and ENCE to race for Intel(r), Grand Slam V. Furthermore, they are the first team that has secured a place in the Group stage of the first ESL Pro Tour Championship event in 2024.
G2 Esports Rifler Nikola “NiKo” Kovac won his first EPT DHL award, which is based on a combination between player performance, fans voting, and broadcast talents voting.
Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac said after the win: “This trophy is the biggest of my career – I’m super-happy right now!” This trophy was a long time coming, but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my team. I am so grateful to them for being by my side. I’m so proud of my team, they kept their cool throughout the series. It’s hard to believe that we won both [EPT Championship] events in the same calendar year. “The experience of playing in the LANXESS Arena was incredible!”
The German organization has now won two EPT Championships in the same calendar year. They also took home the IEM Katowice title earlier this year. Justin “jks”, a G2 Esports player, has also proven to be a formidable force by winning his third EPT Championship in just two years.
IEM Cologne had a peak audience of over 727,000 viewers. * The live portion of the event attracted over 37,000 fans in 70 countries across three days.
ESL Pro Tour Season 18 will begin on August 31 and run until October 1. Visit the ESL Pro Tour’s official website for the latest information about ESL Counter-Strike esports. You can also follow ESL CS via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
