Photo: Helena Kristiansson
Three Protoss and one Zerg made it through the IEM Cologne open bracket to complete the group stage. The competition resumes at 13:00 CET today with qxc, MaNa and HeroMarine the only names to fight for the western scene.
As seen from the results above, a lot of non-Korean fan favorites couldn't quite make it out of the first stage. Bracket A took the lives of German trio HasuObs, Hanfy and TLO and also Fnatic's Miniraser as it promoted StarDust and MC to the next phase. Bracket B was also split evenly between Koreans and foreigners but the latter couldn't make it past Losers Round 2 either. Patience and HyuN emerged as the winners of Bracket B and completed the group stage.
The groups themselves tell the story of Zerg nearing extinction. With HyuN the only one to qualify through the open bracket and Jaedong as the only one to qualify, the race is down to just two representatives.
The first two groups will be played today, Group A at 13:00 CET and Group B at 18:00. C and D will be left for tomorrow with the same starting times. The entire playoffs will be carried out on Sunday, starting at 12:00 CET.
