Portuguese team sAw has stunned an in-form G2 on the opening day of IEM Cologne, winning both maps in remarkable fashion which has sent G2 to the lower bracket while they progress to the next round of the tournament.
Veto
- SAW removed Mirage
- G2 removed Vertigo
- SAW picked Nuke
- G2 picked Inferno
- SAW removed Ancient
- G2 removed Anubis
- Dust2 was left over
Map 1: Nuke; Pick: sAw; Winner: sAw
sAw walked into their map pick with a clear game plan, had a read on everything G2 threw at them, and right from the first half of the map, it was clear that this was going to be far from comfortable for G2. Moving away from expectations, G2 posted only 4 rounds on the CT side of Nuke and closed the half with a 4-8 scoreline.
A helpless G2 only posted a single round on the T side but looking at how they were dominated by sAw, it was clear that Nuke was over for them. sAw continued with their domination on the T side and took home their map pick with a heavily one-sided 13-5 scoreline.
Map 2: Inferno; Pick: G2; Winner: sAw
G2 started their map pick with a pistol-round victory upon which sAw got back on the board and took the lead away from them. G2 got back on the board and only let 3 more rounds slip from that point. Being the dominant force on Inferno, G2 posted 7 rounds before moving into the second half.
G2 extended their lead to 5 rounds after winning the pistol round on their defense which put them in a prime position to take it to the third map but sAw with their superior game planning turned things around, posting a streak of 8 rounds without letting G2 get a single round on board and closed the map with a stunning comeback to take down one of the heavy favorites.
