G2 repeat win over mousesports to qualify for IEM Summer

A solid all-round team performance saw the French-Balkan side claim the final qualifier spot at the main event.

The IEM Summer closed qualifier has come to an end following the completion of the lower bracket final featuring G2 and MOUZ. The French-Balkan side repeated their upper bracket quarter-final victory over Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong’s men, this time more convincingly with a 2-0 scoreline (Nuke 16-8, Dust2 16-10), to join the previously qualified OG and FunPlus Phoenix at the $250,000 main event.

To get to the lower bracket final, G2 had to fend off FaZe in a closely-contested three-map affair in the previous round, with a standout showing from Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač edging his team past Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen’s troops. Meanwhile, MOUZ secured 2-0 victories over BIG and Movistar Riders after falling to G2 in the upper bracket opening round.

G2 have extended their recent run of form with this win, building on their qualification to the BLAST Premier Spring Final earlier in April. Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković & co. will be hoping to keep their momentum rolling into DreamHack Masters Spring on Thursday, when they will face off with Spirit in the best-of-one opening match.

JaCkz had 13 first kills and a 1.52 impact rating in the series

MOUZ kicked off their map pick of Nuke promisingly by claiming a 5-2 lead early on, but a Audric "⁠JACKZ⁠" Jug 1v2 in the eighth round spelt the beginning of the end for dexter and company. G2 grabbed MOUZ by the scruff of the neck to overwhelm them and shut down their offence comprehensively for a 9-6 halftime lead. NiKo then took control of his team’s T side with a high damage output (149.1 ADR) to help swiftly wrap up the map 16-8.

G2 opted to take the series to Dust2 next, which they had lost 11-16 to MOUZ in their upper bracket encounter. This time around, the French-Balkan side enjoyed a successful offence, only faltering temporarily in the middle of the half as MOUZ picked up a string of rounds, but a Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač 1v2 clutch ensured G2 secured the advantage at the break. The international side replied to dropping the opening two rounds of the second half with a trio of their own, but back-to-back clutches from the CT side put G2 back in the driver's seat as they closed out the map 16-10 to qualify for IEM Summer.

IEM Summer 2021 Closed QualifierBest of 3 MOUZMatchpage 0 2 28th April 2021 G2 8Nuke 16 10Dust2 16

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Aurimas 'Bymas' PipirasBymas	28 - 33	-5	65.2	0.96
Robin 'ropz' Koolropz	36 - 37	-1	74.2	0.95
David 'frozen' Čerňanskýfrozen	27 - 35	-8	65.6	0.88
Frederik 'acoR' GyldstrandacoR	28 - 34	-6	63.5	0.84
Christopher 'dexter' Nongdexter	28 - 40	-12	61.6	0.83

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	38 - 31	+7	91.3	1.32
Audric 'JACKZ' JugJACKZ	34 - 34	0	75.0	1.23
Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovićnexa	40 - 26	+14	70.9	1.20
Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačhuNter-	35 - 30	+5	76.0	1.20
François 'amanek' Delaunayamanek	32 - 26	+6	61.4	1.03

IEM Summer 2021 is scheduled to take place from June 3-13, when 16 teams will battle it out for the lion’s share of the $250,000 prize pool as well as circuit points in the ESL Pro Tour and BLAST Premier World Leaderboard. The online tournament will feature two double-elimination GSL groups, which will lead into a single-elimination playoff and culminate with a best-of-five grand final. The team list currently looks as follows:

Gambit
Astralis
Complexity
Vitality
Extra Salt
OG
Evil Geniuses
G2 HEROIC
Virtus.pro
Spirit
Ninjas in Pyjamas
FunPlus Phoenix
fnatic
Imperial
ENC Global Playoff runner-upOG #19 Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenNikolaj 'niko' KristensenMateusz 'mantuu' WilczewskiShahar 'flameZ' Shushan Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač Age: 25 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1251 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.67 G2 #9 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković FaZe #18 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenHåvard 'rain' NygaardMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenHelvijs 'broky' Saukants MOUZ #17 Christopher 'dexter' NongDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýFrederik 'acoR' GyldstrandRobin 'ropz' KoolAurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras Imperial #67 Caio 'zqkS' FonsecaGustavo 'SHOOWTiME' GonçalvesArthur 'f4stzin' SchmittGuilherme 'piriajr' BarbosaCristopher 'ckzao' Chalus Virtus.pro #4 Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievTimur 'buster' TulepovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Evil Geniuses #22 Michał 'MICHU' MüllerPeter 'stanislaw' JarguzVincent 'Brehze' CayonteTsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovOwen 'oBo' Schlatter Extra Salt #15 Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekEdgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouJosh 'oSee' OhmJustin 'FaNg' Coakley Finn 'karrigan' Andersen Age: 31 Team: FaZe Rating 1.0: 0.92 Maps played: 1798 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.69 Vitality #12 Richard 'shox' PapillonDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' RabierJayson 'Kyojin' Nguyen Van Spirit #11 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevAbdul 'degster' GasanovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev BIG #6 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşNils 'k1to' Gruhne Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković Age: 24 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1075 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.64 FunPlus Phoenix #16 Jesse 'zehN' LinjalaLuka 'emi' VukovićMartin 'STYKO' StykPavle 'Maden' BoškovićAsger 'Farlig' Jensen Astralis #3 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderEmil 'Magisk' ReifLucas 'Bubzkji' Andersen HEROIC #2 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerIsmail 'refrezh' AliMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' Beck Complexity #10 Justin 'jks' SavageWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaKristian 'k0nfig' WieneckeValentin 'poizon' VasilevBenjamin 'blameF' Bremer Gambit #1 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Ninjas in Pyjamas #13 Nicolai 'device' ReedtzFredrik 'REZ' SternerHampus 'hampus' PoserNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez ZamoraErik 'ztr' Gustafsson Christopher 'dexter' Nong Age: 26 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 814 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.66 Audric 'JACKZ' Jug Age: 28 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 872 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.68 Movistar Riders #35 Lucas 'steel' LopesAlejandro 'alex' MasanetAlejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo CanoOwen 'smooya' ButterfieldKristjan 'shokz' Jakobson fnatic #20 Jesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonMaikil 'Golden' SelimLudvig 'Brollan' BrolinJack 'Jackinho' Ström Mattsson Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 24 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 1409 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.67