Liquid and Heroic won their matches in the lower bracket and advanced to the second stage of IEM Cologne 2025. The former defeated FlyQuest in a tense three-map series, while Heroic easily overcame Virtus.pro with a 2:0 score.

FlyQuest vs Liquid
FlyQuest started the match with a loss on their map pick—Nuke ended with a score of 6:13. However, on Dust2, the team managed to respond, winning the map 13:10. The fate of the match was decided on Ancient , where Liquid confidently closed the match—13:9.

The best player of the series was Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken, who scored 48 kills and an adr of 79. You can check out the detailed match statistics by following this link.

Virtus.pro vs Heroic
Heroic controlled the pace from the start and won Overpass with a score of 13:8, despite VP's map choice. On Mirage, Heroic managed to come back after the first half and won 13:10.

The best player of the match was Andrey "tN1R" Tatarinovich with 42 kills and an adr of 91. You can check out the detailed match statistics by following this link.

Both teams—Liquid and Heroic continue their fight in the main stage of IEM Cologne 2025. Their opponents and match schedule will be announced later. FlyQuest and Virtus.pro leave the tournament one step away from the main stage, earning $4,500 in prize money.

IEM Cologne 2025 takes place from July 23 to August 3 in Germany . The tournament prize pool is $1,000,000.