IEM Cologne 2021 Play-In will be ViCi Gaming’s first appearance in an ESL-organized competition in 17 months.
ViCi will be Asia’s only representative at IEM Cologne 2021. The Liang “advent” Zhuo-led team will fight for the main event spot, with Renegades and MIBR confirmed so far in the list. The other eight teams will be decided through ESL Pro Tour Standings, ESL World Ranking (6), ESL National Championships (1), and ESL Meisterschaft (1). Later on, the Play-In stage’s top eight teams will advance to the main event.
This year, ViCi will represent Asia in the US$1,000,000 competition, having qualified after gaining the required ESL Pro Tour Points, while TYLOO and TIGER trail behind in second and third place with 175 and 34 points, respectively. Looking back, TYLOO was the only Asian representative to participate at an international stage since last year, playing at IEM Katowice 2020 despite finishing last in the group stage.
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| Ranking | Team | Points |
| 1st | 🇨🇳 ViCi | 235 |
| 2nd | 🇨🇳 TYLOO | 175 |
| 3rd | 🇲🇳 TIGER (Renewal) | 34 |
| 4th | 🇨🇳 Invictus | 22.5 |
| 5th | 🇹🇭 Beyond (ex-Beyond) | 16 |
| 6th | 🇮🇳 Bl4ZE Esports | 11.5 |
| 7th | 🇮🇳 2ez Gaming | 5 |
| 8th | 🇮🇳 Global Esports | 4.5 |
| 9th | 🇮🇳 Phoenix Esports | 2.5 |
| 10th | 🇮🇳 We Own All | 2.5 |
| 11th | 🇮🇳 Team Wolf | 2.5 |
| 12th | 🇮🇳 Reckoning Esports | 2.5 |
Apart from the announcement, starting this year, the legendary Cologne tournament will be held under the ‘IEM’ brand after Intel’s three-year extension of its partnership with ESL.
Since the pandemic’s occurrence in February of last year, many offline competitions have been conducted domestically and abroad, albeit on a limited scale with no audience permitted, including the upcoming IEM Cologne 2021. According to the most recent release, ESL will still postpone large-scale activities for on-site audiences until November this year.
The IEM Cologne 2021 Play-In team list looks as follows:
| 🇨🇳 ViCi | 🌎 ESL World Ranking (31/05) |
| 🇦🇺 Renegades | 🌎 ESL World Ranking (31/05) |
| 🇧🇷 MIBR | 🌎 ESL World Ranking (31/05) |
| 🌎 Road to Cologne NA #3 | 🌎 ESL World Ranking (31/05) |
| 🌎 Road to Cologne NA #4 | 🌎 ESL World Ranking (31/05) |
| 🌎 Road to Cologne EU #7 | 🌎 ESL World Ranking (31/05) |
| 🌎 Road to Cologne EU #8 | 🌎 ESL National Championships Playoff |
| 🌎 Road to Cologne EU #9 | 🇩🇪 ESL Meisterschaft: Spring 2021 |
How to Keep Updated With ViCi Gaming’s Upcoming Matches?
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Photo cover courtesy of HLTV
