IEM Cologne will start this week and is set to provide almost two weeks of exciting Counter-Strike action.
Coming just days after the thrills and bangers we witnessed at BLAST Premier Fall Groups, you can be sure that the top teams will all be determined to provide more of the same as they look to earn one of Counter-Strike's most prestigious trophies.
With the big news being that ESL have made all matches during the event BO3, let's take a look at the Play-In Stage teams and opening matches, the Group Stage teams, and the favourites for the event.
As is the same with IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne 2024 will begin with a Play-In Stage that is set to begin on August 7th.
The Play-In Stage will last until the August 9th and will see half of the teams involved eliminated in that short space of time while the other eight teams will advance to the IEM Cologne Group Stage.
As is always the case with these events there are some big names within the Play-In Stage, including the likes of Liquid, Eternal Fire, Falcons, and Complexity.
Much of the focus will be on Liquid during the opening stages, they shocked everyone at Fall Groups to pick up two wins over the reigning Major champions, NAVI, with their new lineup.
After the teams in the IEM Cologne 2024 Play-In Stage have battled it out for the eight spots available, the Group Stage will begin.
Eight more teams will join them in the Group Stage, those teams being: FaZe, Vitality, NAVI, MOUZ, Astralis, Spirit, G2, and Virtus.pro.
There'll be a big focus on NAVI during the event, the Major champions will be expected to bounce back after two surprising losses against Liquid at Fall Groups.
G2 will also have a lot of eyes on them, they've looked strong since the additions of Snax and malbsMd, but will they be able to defend their crown in the LANXESS Arena?
The Group Stage for IEM Cologne will begin on August 10th and end on August 13th.
During that time, 16 teams will battle it out for the six available spots in the Playoffs.
The winners of IEM Cologne 2024 will receive a whopping $400,000 from a $1,000,000 prize pool.
Not just that, but they'll also book a ticket to BLAST Premier World Final 2024. However, if the winners have already earned a spot at World Final, the spot granted to them for winning Cologne will instead pass onto a high-placed team on the BLAST World Leaderboard.
Finally, the winner will automatically qualify for IEM Katowice 2025, as well as receive a notch towards the Intel Grand Slam.
With Counter-Strike being so competitive in 2024, it's incredibly hard to find favourites for IEM Cologne 2024.
Spirit will always be in with a shout, the combination of donk and sh1ro is proving to be one of the most impactful duos in the world and has already been enough to guide Spirit to wins at IEM Katowice and BLAST Premier Spring Final presented by Revolut in 2024.
Another big favourite is MOUZ, the young squad that has also won two events so far this year, ESL Pro League Season 19 and BetBoom Dacha Belgrade. MOUZ is a German organisation too, so you can sure the home crowd will back the young squad if they make it to the arena.
Elsewhere, you have to look at the likes of NAVI, G2, FaZe and Vitality.
FaZe have looked out of sorts recently, but you can never keep a karrigan team down for long. As for Vitality, they are yet to win an event thus far in 2024, they'll be keen to make IEM Cologne their first after narrowly missing out on a Grand Final appearance there last year.
That brings us to G2 and NAVI, the reigning champions and the reigning Major champions. Both teams are lined with talent and both teams are capable of beating anyone on their day, if the stars align, either one could lift the trophy with ease.
BLAST ApS., Hauser Plads 1, 3., 1127 Copenhagen