IEM Cologne 2025 Play-In preview: Momentum for TYLOO, can Team Liquid rebound?

Following a brief break after the BLAST.television Austin Main, the Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) esports circuit has roared into life for the second half of the 2025 season.

For lots of the world’s greatest groups, IEM Cologne 2025 is the primary occasion after the Main and is the best alternative for groups to see how they fare on the worldwide stage.

Earlier than the Group Stage will get underway, 16 groups are competing within the Play-Ins. With a number of notable names trying to earn a spot contained in the cathedral of Counter-Strike, Esports Insider takes a better take a look at the principle speaking factors earlier than the Play-Ins get underway.

The 2025 season has been removed from easy crusing for Crew Liquid. Having positioned no increased than the highest six in all tournaments it has competed in, the workforce hopes Cologne marks a turning level for this 12 months’s CS2 marketing campaign.

A profitable trial of Kamil ‘Siuhy’ Szkaradek has seen the Polish participant turn out to be the workforce’s new in-game chief (IGL). Nonetheless, the change of roles started with Liquid failing to qualify for ESL Professional League Season 22 following a defeat to Sashi Esport.

Making it to the LANXESS Area might be the catalyst for Crew Liquid to spark a return to kind, however its opening spherical match in opposition to PaiN Gaming is prone to be a hard-fought battle. The Brazilians head into Cologne after making it to the Austin Main Playoffs, and a win in opposition to Liquid may cement its place as certainly one of South America’s strongest groups.

For Liquid, victory over PaiN Gaming opens the door for an opportunity to qualify for the Group Stage, the place a Playoff place might be on the playing cards. If it will probably overcome its first-round opponents, a second-round conflict in opposition to both BIG or FaZe Clan awaits.

China’s Counter-Strike 2 scene has continued rising, with a number of groups qualifying and receiving invitations to the top-tier worldwide occasions.

In latest months, TYLOO has began proving that the area can compete in opposition to Europe and the Americas on the massive stage. Forward of Cologne, the Chinese language facet received FISSURE Playground 1, regardless of utilizing its coach as a brief stand-in till the semi-final, the place Ji ‘Jee’ Dongkai returned to the beginning lineup.

Standout performances from Yi ‘JamYoung’ Yang earned him the MVP trophy, together with a wealth of momentum heading into the Play-Ins, the place the workforce will face Virtus.professional within the opening spherical.

One other sturdy exhibiting in Cologne may see TYLOO cement its place throughout the prime ten of the Valve Regional Standings (VRS), placing it in a wonderful place to safe a spot on the Budapest Main.

FaZe Clan‘s 2025 has peaked and troughed with various levels of success. A 3rd-place end at PGL Bucharest prompt the momentum was constructing as soon as once more.

The North American organisation tried to compete in opposition to the perfect, bringing in Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyljev on mortgage for IEM Dallas and the Austin Main. The Main yielded some short-term success, with the workforce making it to the Playoffs. Nonetheless, FaZe couldn’t transfer previous The MongolZ within the quarter-finals to make a considerably surprising run to the ultimate.

For Cologne, Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants has returned to the beginning lineup, and with it, an opportunity to put the foundations for a powerful finish to a turbulent 12 months. A primary-round match in opposition to BIG is not any straightforward job, however one that would inject loads of confidence right into a workforce that when dominated Counter-Strike esports.

With a wealth of gifted groups from Europe, the Americas, Asia and Oceania competing, a number of groups are in rivalry to safe certainly one of eight locations within the Group Stage.

The skilled rosters of FaZe Clan and FURIA give the 2 sides an excellent probability of incomes a Group Stage place, whereas the spectacular type of TYLOO and Astralis additionally places them in with a possibility to advance.

Beneath are the groups Esports Insider predicts to advance:

Followers can tune into the Play-Ins of IEM Cologne 2025 throughout the ESL Twitch and YouTube channels.