OG clinch IEM Summer semi

The North American squad will have to start their playoff run in the quarter-finals.

OG have topped the IEM Summer Group B upper bracket, securing a spot directly in the tournament’s semi-finals. Mateusz "⁠mantuu⁠" Wilczewski and company did so by defeating Evil Geniuses, who had been showing renewed good form by defeating Spirit and HEROIC, in a series that went to three maps.

Evil Geniuses, who weren’t able to convert the series into a victory after a spectacular comeback on OG’s map pick, Dust2, before losing their own pick and the decider map one-sidedly, will now have face none other than the world's No.1 team in the world, Gambit, in the playoffs.

"I’m really confident in our map pool and we haven’t even shown some surprises yet, maybe we’ll get to show them this tournament," Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen said after discussing the team's blunder on Dust2, which he attributed to overconfidence and too much clutter in communications during freezetime. "All I’m saying is that I feel like I can pick anything and we have all the right keys to win it. I feel really confident and like no one can stop us right now."

OG have completed the Group B gauntlet without a loss

Evil Geniuses and OG got off to a close start to the series on Dust2, where the two teams took turns linking streaks of rounds back-and-forth until the half. Up by one, the team led by Aleksib were able to further extend their lead after switching to the defending side, where they hit double digits after winning the pistol round and slowly started to run away with their map pick. Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz and company had a different plan, however, as they pulled off a heroic feat and brought a 7-14 deficit back to a 16-14 victory after a nine-round winning streak.

Despite their first map blunder OG came out on Overpass ready to put up a fight on Evil Geniuses’ map pick. They lost the pistol starting on the CT side, but after winning the forcebuy and building an economy they went on to dominate, powered by Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan and Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså, securing a 12-3 lead at the half. Having secured the second pistol round, OG returned fire and bagged the second map to force the series into a decider.

Inferno started off as a brawl between the two teams, OG as CTs and Evil Geniuses on the attack, fighting to win economic control of the half. It was finally OG, with a red-hot flameZ and mantuu leading the way, that were able to get ahead winning several disputed rounds to a 10-5 score line before switching sides. The European combine continued to plow ahead on the attacking side, winning the map’s second pistol round and closing the half out cleanly, 16-5, to claim a semi-final berth at IEM Summer.

IEM Summer 2021Best of 3 Evil GeniusesMatchpage 1 2 6th June 2021 OG 16Dust2 14 6Overpass 16 5Inferno 16

Evil Geniuses	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Owen 'oBo' SchlatteroBo	42 - 53	-11	67.5	0.91
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq	39 - 50	-11	53.9	0.85
Michał 'MICHU' MüllerMICHU	43 - 57	-14	71.9	0.84
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguzstanislaw	35 - 50	-15	56.9	0.82
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	41 - 59	-18	67.4	0.80

OG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Shahar 'flameZ' ShushanflameZ	74 - 42	+32	91.4	1.53
Mateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewskimantuu	60 - 36	+24	86.2	1.46
Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangsåvalde	58 - 37	+21	88.5	1.35
Aleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenAleksib	44 - 43	+1	81.7	1.14
Nikolaj 'niko' Kristensenniko	32 - 42	-10	49.3	0.90

Spirit #14 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevAbdul 'degster' GasanovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev OG #20 Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenNikolaj 'niko' KristensenMateusz 'mantuu' WilczewskiShahar 'flameZ' Shushan Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan Age: 17 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 281 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.67 Gambit #1 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov HEROIC #2 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerIsmail 'refrezh' AliMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' Beck Mateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewski Age: 23 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 594 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.63 Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangså Age: 25 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1142 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.65 Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen Age: 24 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 898 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.66 Evil Geniuses #38 Michał 'MICHU' MüllerPeter 'stanislaw' JarguzVincent 'Brehze' CayonteTsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovOwen 'oBo' Schlatter Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz Age: 27 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 1250 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.66