IEM Winter 2021: NIP, Vitality, G2 and Team Liquid get their first victories

NIP, Vitality, G2 and Team Liquid secured their first victories at IEM Winter 2021, making their way to the group stage semifinals. At the same time Astralis, MOUZ, TYLOO and OG will continue to fight in the tournament in the lower bracket.

NIP - Astralis

The first meeting of the game day began on Nuke. However, the teams were a little late on the server, waiting for technical issues to be fixed. As a result, an hour later the meeting continued, but at the same time the Swedish team showed a fairly confident defense, securing a comfortable advantage over the side switching. It seemed that in the second half the Danes would wake up. However, the NIP suddenly soared on the map, over and over again tearing apart the opponent's defense. As a result, the Swedes won a confident victory and reached the group semifinals - 16: 8.

MOUZ - Vitality

The side-by-side meeting also began with a delay, after which MOUZ was able to secure a minimal advantage over switching sides. However, at the start of the second half, the French ran forward, at some point risking a rout. Here ropz and the companies had to join, which made a comeback and at the same time reached the 15th round. But an unfortunate mistake allowed Vitality to seize the initiative, go to overtime, and at the same time register the first victory at IEM Winter 2021 - 19:16.

G2 - TYLOO

The meeting between France and China took place on the Mirage map. However, G2 showed too confident defensive play, literally trampling all of TYLOO's attacking attempts. Nevertheless, after the change of sides, the Chinese team managed to quickly return to the game, having already shown their defense. And yet, towards the end of the match, the French gathered their thoughts, deciding not to take matters to the extreme - 16:13.

OG - Team Liquid

In a side-by-side match, the events also took place on the Mirage map. However, this time everything was much tighter, since OG had only one round of advantage in the first half. The side switching transformed the play of the North American squad, which won the pistol round and seized the economy and initiative. At the same time, OG was not ready to make a comeback, thereby allowing Liquid to earn their first victory in the championship - 16:12.

IEM Winter 2021 will take place from December 2 to December 12 in Stockholm. Sixteen teams from around the world will compete for a prize pool of $ 250,000. In addition to the cash reward, teams will compete for ESL Pro Tour Points that will help qualify for IEM Katowice 2022.