Imperial eliminate ORDER from IEM Cologne Play-in
Imperial have bested ORDER 2-1 to send the Oceanic side packing from the IEM Cologne Play-in. This result now sets up an interesting Brazilian derby as Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo and company are scheduled to face 00 Nation in a do-or-die matchup later today.
The series began on ORDER's pick of Inferno with the Australian-majority side soon justifying their pick by winning five rounds on the bounce. Imperial answered back with a four-round reply of their own to stay in the game, but ORDER doubled down, adding five of the next six rounds on offer to head into their CT-side with a 10-5 lead.
While a three-round spree at the start of the second half raised some hopes of a Brazilian comeback, ORDER soon went on a tear, with a stalwart defense helping the side win six rounds in a row and secure Inferno with a 16-9 scoreline.
The two teams then paid a visit to Mirage for the second map, where Imperial quickly accrued an early 7-1 lead thanks to a vintage performance from Fernando "fer" Alvarenga. The Oceanians did manage to add one round onto the board to show signs of life, but the remainder of the half was mostly dormant, with Imperial going on to lead 11-4 by the switch.
The game soon descended into a stalemate at the offset of the second half, with neither side able to add more than three consecutive rounds to their name. This, however, favored Imperial, who eventually managed to add the two remaining rounds they needed to win their pick of Mirage 16-8 and tie the series.
Nuke played host to the third and final map of the BO3 with FalleN's men drumming up a comfortable 5-1 lead to start their CT-side. Much like Mirage, ORDER managed to scrape together a one-round reply, but this only encouraged Imperial to turn up the heat, eventually posting an overpowering 13-2 lead by the switch.
ORDER's comeback attempt began with the Oceanic side adding six of the first seven rounds on their CT-side. Sporadic round wins from Imperial helped the Brazilian side inch closer to match point, but ORDER's valiant efforts soon came crashing down as FalleN and co. soon managed to post the sole round they needed to take Nuke 16-11 and send the Oceanians packing.
ORDERImperial| ORDER |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Joshua 'INS' Potter |
47 - 50 | -3 | 83.2 | 65.3% | 1.04 |
| Jay 'Liazz' Tregillgas |
47 - 46 | +1 | 67.4 | 78.7% | 1.02 |
| Alistair 'aliStair' Johnston |
52 - 51 | +1 | 71.7 | 61.3% | 0.97 |
 Simon 'Sico' Williams |
45 - 45 | +0 | 72.1 | 58.7% | 0.94 |
| Jordan 'Hatz' Bajic |
45 - 51 | -6 | 61.1 | 66.7% | 0.93 |
| Imperial |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo |
51 - 44 | +7 | 69.6 | 76.0% | 1.14 |
| Fernando 'fer' Alvarenga |
55 - 45 | +10 | 81.9 | 66.7% | 1.14 |
| Ricardo 'boltz' Prass |
48 - 45 | +3 | 70.9 | 68.0% | 1.07 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
53 - 51 | +2 | 79.8 | 68.0% | 1.07 |
| Lincoln 'fnx' Lau |
34 - 51 | -17 | 55.4 | 56.0% | 0.73 |
Imperial now have just a few hours to prepare for their all-Brazilian matchup, with their BO3 versus 00 Nation scheduled to begin at 01:30PM where just one team will be able to make it to the main event.
