Outsiders became the third team to secure a place in the group stage of IEM Cologne. On June 5, she defeated BIG in the upper bracket of the play-in stage and thus advanced to the next stage. Earlier on the same day, Heroic and Spirit qualified for the group stage.
Outsiders beat BIG on two maps. The first of these was their chosen Inferno, and on it the German team initially managed to gain a slight advantage. However, they gradually lost control, and by the middle of the card draw, Outsiders were already leading by 9 – 6. After switching sides, the Russian team managed to maintain the advantage, leaving this map behind with a score of 16 – 13. On Dust2 the game developed almost the same way. In the first rounds, the German team managed to gain a slight advantage, but gradually Outsiders increased the pressure, and BIG was unable to counteract this. As a result, the Russian team chalked up this map with the same result (16 – 13).
The loss turned out to be an unpleasant surprise for BIG, because just a week ago the team won the Roobet Cup, defeating FaZe in the grand final of the tournament. However, BIG still has the opportunity to qualify for the next stage of IEM Cologne through the lower bracket. To do this, she will have to play against Astralis on July 6.
