IEM Cologne 2023 Grand Finals Review | G2 Take The Prize

The IEM Cologne Grand Finals reached its conclusion yesterday, with G2 becoming the ninth and final team to lift the trophy in CS:GO. The team are now off the mark in the race for the Intel Grand Slam Season 5, with ESL Pro League Season 18 the next opportunity. In doing so, they also joined the exclusive club of teams who won both Cologne and Katowice in the same year, after Fnatic (2015) and FaZe (2022).

G2 Are Back

There they are – this is the G2 that dominated the early months of 2023. There were fears that this roster – namely HooXi, had run its course, but G2’s patience over the Summer break was rewarded in silverware at IEM Cologne 2023’s LANXESS Arena.

G2 had previously held firm in the IEM Cologne 2023 Semi-Finals, and showed no sign of nerves when taking that next step. They’ve been here before, at the BLAST Premier World Final 2022 and at IEM Katowice 2023. This is a roster that knows the price of victory.

Every single player stepped up to the mark, but it was NiKo and m0NESY that were the true stars of the show. We’ll discuss NiKo soon enough, but we can’t state how impressive this was from m0NESY. At 18 years of age, the Baby GOAT has already amassed a trophy cabinet most players can only dream of. With a K/D ratio of 92:52, he was key to getting G2 across the finish line here. We’re witnessing a generational talent at work, and it’s a pleasure to watch him improve match-by-match. The only question is – where is his ceiling?

Meanwhile, HooXi, huNter-, and jks kept things ticking along, ensuring ENCE could never get a grip on the IEM Cologne Grand Finals. The result was a 3:1 stomping, with the overwhelming favorites coming out on top.

Nerves Get To ENCE

ENCE will look back on the IEM Cologne Final with regret, because really, this was over before it began. Our IEM Cologne Grand Finals Preview noted that while G2 were favorites, ENCE were masters of upsetting the odds. Here though, the nerves were clearly too much. They quickly went 2:0 down in maps that were never truly close. After that point, it was an insurmountable mountain to climb in the IEM Cologne Final.

Much of ENCE’s hopes dangled on the form of AWPer SunPayus, who had dazzled earlier in the tournament. Once he posted a 4:17 scoreline on the first map of Nuke, you had an inkling of which direction the IEM Cologne Final was headed.

ENCE did manage to grab back the third map of the IEM Cologne Final, but even that took its toll. ENCE were 14:5 up on Anubis, and looked set for a comprehensive victory in their attempt at the reverse sweep. Nerves set in once again, as G2 pulled it all the way back to 15:13 before ENCE were finally able to close it out. Despite it ending in victory, the damage was done and the stage was set for an easy G2 fourth map.

By the end, ENCE could only look to Snappi for inspiration. The IGL was their overall top-fragger, which for most teams is an impossible win condition. Of the team, none of them ended the series with a positive K/D ratio. You simply can’t expect to win Grand Finals like that.

NiKo Dominance

It was the perfect send-off to CS:GO for NiKo. After G2’s Paris Major disaster, it seemed NiKo was destined to finish CS:GO with a whimper. G2 had been in terrible form in the lead-up to IEM Cologne 2023, so it was a safe bet. NiKo had other ideas.

He went on to post the second-best tournament numbers of his entire career (after ESL One New York 2017), snatching the official DHL MVP award as well as the famous IEM Cologne trophy. It’s a reward befitting of CS:GO’s greatest rifler, who gets to leave the game behind in glory rather than tears. His vintage performance in the IEM Cologne Final was the jewel in the crown, securing the biggest prize of his illustrious career so far.

With CS2 fast approaching and NiKo still just 26 years old, there’s plenty more to his story left to write yet.