Today is the start of Stage 2 of IEM Cologne 2025. Winners from Stage 1 now battle it out against stronger teams to decide who will be playing in the arena in Cologne next week. Here is a breakdown of day 1 of Stage 2.

Team Falcons vs GamerLegion

Falcons took on the side of GamerLegion in their opening game of day 1 at IEM Cologne 2025. As one of the highly anticipated games as Falcons play their first official with new signing and young 17 year old prodigy Kyousuke. Kyousuke got a well needed full buy 4k while holding ramp, making it look like nothing. NiKo also had a great first half, tapping the heads off of GamerLegion, however GamerLegion were still in the game keeping the scoreline back and forth. Kyxsan was able to end the half with a crucial 3k on A site to get Falcons 7-5 at the half.

G2 Esports vs FURIA

The other first game to be played on the second stream was between that of new roster G2, with new coach ‘sAw’, AWPer ‘SunPayus’ and Rifler ‘MATYS’, and dominant looking FURIA. G2 came out the gates with aggression and confidence shutting down FURIA on their first map of Dust2 where the whole team played incredibly well.

The MongolZ vs 3DMAX

The MongolZ took on the French side of 3DMAX in their first matchup of Stage 2. The MongolZ blew 3DMAX out the water on Nuke, smashing them an exceptional 13-2 on the map. Going into Ancient, 3DMAX woke up slightly and put up a much better fight against the Mongolians. However, they could not close the game out allowing The MongolZ to beat them in the series 2:0. They now go 1:0 and 3DMAX are 0:1 in Stage 2.

Vitality vs Astralis

The next game up was between the best and most dominant team in the world, Vitality and the Danish side of Astralis. As expected, Vitality were able to secure their first series 2:0, on the other hand, Astralis put up a great fight. They never allowed Vitality to just stride through them and win dominantly, they still made Vitality work for the win. Vitality are now 1:0 in Stage 2, leaving Astralis 0:1.

Aurora vs NIP

Aurora, formally Eternal Fire, took on a very strong and confident looking NIP. Unfortunately for NIP, Aurora were able to best the team 2:0 in their first game of Stage 2. NIP took the team to double overtime on map 2 but they could not close out the map and are now 0:1 in the stage with Aurora going 1:0.

Na’Vi vs Faze

Na’Vi took on Faze. Unexpectedly, Na’Vi were able to dominate on the reverse sweep beating Faze on the final 2 maps 13-9 and 13-5 respectively. This result shows the struggle that Faze have been going through lately and with bringing broky back we would not have expected such a result. However, for Na’Vi, after multiple interviews showing the struggle within the organization from confidence and motivation, it is god to see the team putting up results on officials. They now go 1:0 in their first game of Stage 2 and Faze are 0:1.