BIG and Sprout were eliminated early in the counter-strike tournament IEM Cologne. In the play-in phase, the two German teams narrowly lost their decision games against Astralis and Team Vitality and will therefore not compete in front of a home audience.

"I'm heartbroken, thanks for the support, see you in the arena as a spectator," BIG's captain Johannes "tabseN" Wodarz tweeted. "Going into the players' break like this is even more unbearable. We gave everything, I'll take it on my cap.»

With the victory at the Roobet Cup played online, BIG came into the tournament in good shape, but continued to compete with Nils "k1to" Grühne as a replacement for the ill Josef "faveN" Baumann. After a defeat against outsiders, the Germans had to sit down.

The duel against Astralis thus became a trembling match, the BIG knapp with 1:2 (14:16; 16:13; 11:16) lost. After the sensational final entry in 2018, the team will miss the entry into the arena again as in 2019.

Sprout shrugs off surprise

Sprout also dropped out prematurely, but became very dangerous for the clear favorite Team Vitality. Only on the last card the decision was made in favor of the French, who dealt with 2:1 (20:22; 16:11; 10:16) narrowly saved the next round.

Mouz, on the other hand, confidently made it to the group stage. The team led by the German player Jon "JDC" de Castro defeated TyLoo with 2:0 (16:7; 16:11) and is thus one of the last two Canada-based organizations in the tournament, along with G2.