From July 15 to July 17, 2022, the eSports event IEM Cologne 2022 took place in Cologne: the best teams in the world in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive faced off against each other. In a spectacular final, the two CS:GO giants NAVI and FaZe Clan competed for the prize money of approximately 390,000 euros.
What an event it was! The IEM Cologne 2022 event took place from July 15 to July 17, 2022, as a live event in the LANXESS Arena. The prize pool amounted to around 986,000 euros.
After there were no eSports tournaments with live audiences in 2020 and 2021 due to Corona, CS:GO has been experiencing a resurgence since May 2022: Since then, games can be played in front of an audience again.
The grand final between NAVI and FaZe Clan took place on Sunday, July 17, 2022. In the end, FaZe Clan narrowly won 3:2 against NAVI.
Big applause for star players from Ukraine
Who could be the best player of all time? Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (24) is a dominant esports player in the CS:GO scene. He is often referred to as the best CS:GO player in the world. This was also the case at the IEM in Cologne, where he was introduced with the words: “Forget Counter-Strike, forget esports, he could be the best player of all time.”
When he was introduced, the arena in Cologne exploded. The commentator later said that the hall in Cologne absolutely went wild, and the audience was fantastic. It was incredibly loud with every player introduction (via twitter).
Since 2016, s1mple has been playing on the professional team Natus Vincere (NaVI) as an AWPer. He also streams gaming videos on Twitch. Currently, his channel has 3.2 million followers (as of July 18, 2022, via twitch)
Here you can see a trailer for CS:GO:
All information about the grand final: NAVI vs FaZe
What did the map line-up in the final look like?
- FaZe chose Inferno (Won by FaZe 16:13)
- NAVI chose Overpass (Won by NAVI 16:13)
- FaZe chose Ancient (Won by NAVI 19:16)
- NAVI chose Mirage (Won by FaZe 16:9)
- Nuke (Won by FaZe 16:14)
How the final match between NAVI and FaZe Clan went down
FaZe Clan started the match with a strong winning streak of 5 rounds. s1mple then managed to turn the tables. There was a score of 9:6 and later 12:8 for NAVI. However, FaZe caught up and won the round 16:13 against NAVI.
The 2nd round was a close match between the two teams. NAVI then took the lead with 15:11 and ultimately won 16:13.
In the following match, NAVI was leading extremely with 15:4. FaZe Clan managed to catch up well but ultimately lost the match 16:19.
NAVI performed well in the 4th round but was quickly overtaken by FaZe. FaZe ended up winning 16:9.
The final round started very successfully for NAVI. The team took a 5:0 lead. FaZe caught up, and there was a tie at 6:6. NAVI remained strong in the match and led 8:7. FaZe caught up to 13:9. NAVI wouldn’t let that slide and took the lead again at 14:13. However, in the end, FaZe was able to decide the game in their favor and won 16:14.
What was the prize money in the final? Team FaZe won approximately 390,000 euros in prize money. NAVI received about 177,000 euros for second place.
After two years of pandemic, a major eSports event could finally take place in Cologne again. And it delivered an exciting final between two teams known as giants in the CS:GO scene.
What do you think about the eSports event IEM Cologne 2022 and the final between NaVi and FaZe? Feel free to let us know in the comments.
If you are interested in eSports, you may have heard about which former NaVi team member is currently not doing well and how his career went downhill in a short time.
