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The MongolZ, OG, 9INE and Ninjas in Pyjamas won do-or-die matches to earn the final four berths into the group stage at the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne event on Friday in Germany.

The MongolZ swept FURIA Esports 2-0, OG beat Apeks by the same score, 9INE rallied past Team Liquid 2-1 and Ninjas got past Imperial Esports 2-1.

The losing teams were eliminated and received $4,500 prizes for 17th through 20th place.

The $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began Wednesday with 16 teams competing in the double-elimination play-in stage. Opening matches were best-of-one, with all additional matches best-of-three.

Eight teams will advance to the group stage, which also will feature eight teams that previously qualified: G2 Esports, FaZe Clan, Team Vitality, ENCE, Heroic, Cloud9, Natus Vincere and Gamer Legion.

Two groups of eight will compete in double-elimination play from Saturday through Tuesday, with all matches best-of-three. The two group stage winners will move to the playoff semifinals, the group-stage runners-up will head to the playoff quarterfinals as high seeds and the group-stage third-place teams will go to the playoff quarterfinals as low seeds.

The single-elimination playoffs will run Aug. 4-6, with the quarterfinals and semifinals best-of-three and the grand final best-of-five.

The championship side will receive $400,000 and a berth in the 2024 IEM Katowice event. The runner-up will get $180,000.

On Friday, The MongolZ beat FURIA 19-15 on Ingerno and 16-8 on Overpass. Garidmagnai ‘bLitz’ Byambasuren and Sodbayar ‘Techno’ Munkhbold each posted 41 kills for the all-Mongolian winning side.

OG took care of Apeks 16-6 on Mirage and 16-10 on Inferno. Iulian ‘regali’ Harjau of Romania had 40 kills with a plus-16 kills-to-deaths differential for OG, and teammate Nils ‘k1to’ Gruhne of Germany added 40 kills on a plus-10.

Team Liquid opened with a 16-10 win over 9INE on Ancient. 9INE responded by running away 16-6 on Vertigo, and on the decisive map — Overpass — 9INE prevailed 16-12. Wiktor ‘mynio’ Kruk led the all-Polish 9INE squad with 58 kills and a plus-12 and Kamil ‘KEi’ Pietkun had 56 kills on a plus-13.

Imperial beat Ninjas in Pyjamas 16-13 on Overpass before NiP countered with a 16-6 blow on Ancient. The final map was Nuke, where NiP squeaked out a 19-15 victory. Denmark’s Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke starred for NiP with 79 kills on a plus-28 K-D.

The tournament continues Saturday with six matches in the Group Stage:
–Heroic vs. The MongolZ (Group A upper-bracket quarterfinals)
–Monte vs. GamerLegion (Group A upper-bracket quarterfinals)
–Cloud9 vs. Fnatic (Group A upper-bracket quarterfinals)
–9INE vs. ENCE (Group A upper-bracket quarterfinals)
–MOUZ vs. Natus Vincere (Group B upper-bracket quarterfinals)
–G2 Esports vs. Astralis (Group B upper-bracket quarterfinals)

Intel Extreme Masters Cologne prize pool
1. $400,000, 2024 IEM Katowice entry
2. $180,000
3-4. $80,000
5-6. $40,000
7-8. $24,000
9-12. $16,000
13-16. $10,000
17-20. $4,500 — FURIA Esports, Apeks, Team Liquid, Imperial Esports
21-24. $2,500 — Into the Breach, Complexity Gaming, BIG, Grayhound Gaming

–Field Level Media