On home turf in Germany, all eyes were on BIG before their upper bracket match against Outsiders.
A victory would guarantee them a spot in the group stage at IEM Cologne, while a defeat would put them in danger of elimination.
On Inferno, it was Outsiders with the upper hand after a 9-6 lead at the break. In the second half, the two teams were all even, which was enough for Outsiders to win their map pick, 16-13.
BIG still had everything to fight for with their favorite map coming up. But Dust2 turned out to be a fatal encounter for the German side. Again they trailed 9-6 at the break, but this time Outsiders utterly destroyed BIG in the second half. Outsiders won six rounds in a row to make it to 15-6 before they finally lost a round. But the damage was done, and BIG had to surrender in the middle of what seemed like a promising comeback after a no-scope kill from Jame. Outsiders can now relax tomorrow before the main event starts on Thursday.
Tomorrow BIG will need to win an all-or-nothing match against the winner of Astralis vs Complexity.
Outsiders – BIG 2-0 | IEM Cologne Play-in
