Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip led his team to a 2-1 victory over Cloud9 while Evil Geniuses made short work of Triumph in Group B of ESL One Cologne North America.

Liquid made up for their loss to FURIA in the grand finals of DreamHack Open Summer as they opened Group B of ESL One Cologne with a victory against Cloud9, with Stewie2K leading by example as he topped the server with a 1.46 rating while averaging 95.8 damage per round over three maps. Meanwhile, EG wasted little time in taking down Triumph, setting up a winners' match-up between the two North American giants on Friday at 22:00 .

Cloud9 entered their series against Liquid in good form as a stellar showing from Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery gave the team an early lead, pulling ahead 10-1. Four frags from Stewie2K helped Liquid get back in the running, posting five rounds by the break, and an additional quad kill in the second half pistol kept Liquid in control as they began a comeback effort. It seemed as if the Intel Grand Slam champions would close out the map in fine form, but the combined forces of Aran "⁠Sonic⁠" Groesbeek and Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm's AWPs allowed Cloud9 to force overtime, where they edged out a 19-17 victory.

Unfortunately Cloud9 were left out of sorts on the ensuing two maps as a red-hot performance from Stewie2K propelled his side to victory. A 13-0 K-D for the Liquid leader helmed Liquid's offensive effort to start Vertigo, with the team converting an 11-4 lead at halftime into a 16-8 map victory. Nuke unfolded in similar fashion as Stewie2K and Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski continued to find multi-kills, propelling Liquid to a flawless 12-0 scoreline. Quad kill rounds from floppy and oSee began a short comeback effort for Cloud9, but Liquid's lead proved to be too much to overcome as they closed out the map 16-10.

Stewie2K led from the front in Liquid's series against Cloud9

Evil Geniuses were unrelenting against Triumph, getting off to a flying start on Overpass as a stalwart defense helped them to a 5-0 lead. Multi-kill rounds from Alan "⁠Shakezullah⁠" Hardeman aided Triumph in putting three rounds on the board, but the AWP of Tsvetelin "⁠CeRq⁠" Dimitrov and rifle of Ethan "⁠Ethan⁠" Arnold reigned supreme for the remainder of the map as EG conceded only three rounds in the second half before securing a 16-6 victory.

Triple kills from Paytyn "⁠junior⁠" Johnson and Shakezullah offered Triumph an early opportunity on Inferno, but once again Evil Geniuses assumed firm control once the economy was in their favour. Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte and CeRq were at the helm of an 11-4 offensive effort for their side, with the team wasting little time in closing out the series following the side swap.

ESL One Cologne 2020 North AmericaBest of 3 Cloud9Matchpage 1 2 19th August 2020 Liquid 19Overpass 17 8Vertigo 16 10Nuke 16

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Josh 'oSee' OhmoSee	69 - 59	+10	84.0	1.12
Ian 'motm' Hardymotm	60 - 64	-4	65.0	1.01
Ricky 'floppy' Kemeryfloppy	58 - 67	-9	83.8	1.00
Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekSonic	46 - 63	-17	68.7	0.85
Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouJT	43 - 64	-21	55.5	0.77

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	77 - 49	+28	95.8	1.46
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	70 - 56	+14	83.3	1.28
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	58 - 61	-3	76.3	1.11
Michael 'Grim' WinceGrim	60 - 59	+1	69.1	1.08
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	52 - 52	0	69.0	1.04

ESL One Cologne 2020 North AmericaBest of 3 Evil GeniusesMatchpage 2 0 19th August 2020 Triumph 16Overpass 6 16Inferno 5

Evil Geniuses	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq	43 - 20	+23	97.1	1.69
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze	38 - 21	+17	85.2	1.43
Ethan 'Ethan' ArnoldEthan	33 - 25	+8	91.8	1.32
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguzstanislaw	27 - 21	+6	69.2	1.17
Tarik 'tarik' Celiktarik	28 - 27	+1	76.0	1.16

Triumph	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Alan 'Shakezullah' HardemanShakezullah	31 - 34	-3	75.0	0.92
Paytyn 'junior' Johnsonjunior	26 - 31	-5	59.2	0.74
Erik 'penny' Pennypenny	23 - 35	-12	61.7	0.72
Kaleb 'moose' Jaynemoose	17 - 34	-17	55.8	0.65
Gabe 'Spongey' GreinerSpongey	16 - 35	-19	48.3	0.57

Josh 'oSee' Ohm Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 688 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.64 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1308 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.68 Evil Geniuses #3 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek Age: 21 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 671 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.64 Cloud9 #22 Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryIan 'motm' HardyJosh 'oSee' Ohm Liquid #9 Jake 'Stewie2K' YipKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenMichael 'Grim' Wince Ricky 'floppy' Kemery Age: 20 Team: Cloud9 Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 572 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.66 Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold Age: 20 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 901 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.67 Triumph #50 Kaleb 'moose' JayneGabe 'Spongey' GreinerAlan 'Shakezullah' HardemanPaytyn 'junior' JohnsonErik 'penny' Penny Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte Age: 22 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 950 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.66 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Age: 20 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 982 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.62 Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman Age: 22 Team: Triumph Rating 1.0: 0.95 Maps played: 404 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.63 FURIA #6 Henrique 'HEN1' TelesAndrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoKaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip Age: 22 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1244 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.68 Paytyn 'junior' Johnson Age: 19 Team: Triumph Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 141 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.62