CGMagazine had the special privilege to attend Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Cologne 2025 at the LANXESS Arena in Cologne, Germany—by invitation of Intel. Like previous IEMs in Rio, Katowice, Dallas, or Melbourne, the tournament featured the best Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) teams and players from all over the world. Each team competes for the chance to hoist the shiny trophy, earning them major clout—along with a $1,000,000 USD prize! Seeing the event up close and personal for the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, I can say that I was jealous because Canada has nothing as amazing as IEM Cologne at the eSports level.
Coming from a deep Valorant background, I understand the general tactical-shooter match rules—even at the pro level. CS2 pro play worked similarly, where both teams must play as defenders and attackers in a first-to-win-13-rounds format. Unlike Valorant, CS2 only has two sites across its maps: A Site and B Site. Additionally, Terrorist (T) and Counter-Terrorist (CT) sides share some available weapons, but also have side-exclusive weapons during the buy phase. The biggest shocker was how CS2‘s overtimes worked, and they can make matches go as long as the record-breaking longest single map game in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) history, when XENEX and exceL eSports went 88 rounds on Inferno.
Having now been up close and personal at IEM Cologne 2025, I have a few things I wanted to share that will make fellow esports players and fans jealous that they weren’t there themselves.
1. IEM Cologne 2025’s Venue
Intel opened my eyes to the highest heights of eSports entertainment, and they can do it for you, too. While Riot Games’ VALORANT Masters Toronto 2025 was an electric event at the Enercare Centre, IEM Cologne 2025 was thunderous inside the LANXESS Arena. The production value knew no bounds: the side panels showed the player cards and changed when they died each round, along with visuals of the bomb ticking down and exploding. CGMagazine also had an exclusive tour backstage, where we got to see where the sausage is made…or in this case, where the observer magic happens.
If you ever wonder how an eSports event runs, there is always a great production team behind it. ESL Gaming leads different aspects of the events, including broadcast, stage, and technical operations. Specific roles and personnel can vary per event, but generally include commentators, analysts, hosts, observers, and production staff. If you have not had the chance to check out the LANXESS Arena in person, IEM Cologne 2025 contains a red carpet area beside the main stage. Behind the stage is where the referees ensure the matches run without any illegal interference. In a different part of the venue, the observers are hard at work to offer fans the best experience without missing any of the real-time action.
2. The Matches/Fans
If the production still does not sell you, the organized, cheering fans will entice you. The first day and match of IEM Cologne 2025’s quarterfinals was The MongolZ versus Natus Vincere (NAVI), beginning with a triple overtime match on Inferno. The baptism by fire at the Cathedral of Counter-Strike saw NAVI fight fire with fire as they climbed out of the oven with a 22-18 victory, which led to their 2-0 win to advance to face Team Spirit. The fans were ecstatic to see some triple overtime action in the later tournament stages.
The second match of day one went the distance, with the home team’s MOUZ taking on the Brazilians, FURIA. Beginning with some OT action again, MOUZ triumphed under enormous pressure—which led to their 2-1 victory against FURIA. The third map was a nail-biter, where FURIA were nipping at MOUZ’s heels. Still, MOUZ held on with a 13-11 win—with Dorian “xertioN” Berman being the difference-maker.
The semifinals began with an upset, where frontrunners and defending champs at IEM Cologne, Team Vitality, fell to MOUZ in a 2-0 victory. The second semifinal match saw the Russian might of Team Spirit taking on NAVI, who were riding a rhythm. However, Team Spirit broke NAVI’s streak in two, as Team Spirit punched their ticket to the finals. In the finals, the power of Danil “donk” Kryshkovets was too overwhelming for MOUZ to find proper footing on all three maps. Donk earned himself the MVP title, as he led his team to a 3-0 victory at IEM Cologne 2025—at only 18 years old.
IEM Cologne 2025 would not be possible without the fans, most importantly. The fans bring the most energy and organized cheering I have ever seen in my life. It is so cool to see dedicated cheer squads like the Golden Hornets, among many others—bringing drums, flags, props, and organized cheer routines. As someone who has yet to go to my first soccer match, the crowd cheers and jeers felt like a soccer stadium crowd. I saw Jesus Christ himself in the crowd, too. Oh, and yes, that video with the beer cup snake is real.
3. The Intel Gaming Tent
Before and in between the matches, I had to check out the Intel Gaming Tent to see the IEM Cologne 2025 tournament PC: the Acer Predator Orion 7000. The Predator Orion 7000 tournament edition runs on the latest Intel Core Ultra 9 Processor 285K (up to 5.7 GHz max turbo frequency with its 24 cores), an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 graphics card, a 2 TB PCI 4.0 M.2 SSD, two 32 GB DDR5 RAM sticks, and the CycloneX 360 cooling system to keep the RGBs and everything on the motherboard running without any heating issues.
This is not a rig to be trifled with, as its almost $5000 price tag reflects its top-of-the-line components. Be sure to check out our video on TikTok and YouTube, where Sr. Technical Marketing Engineer at Intel Corporation, Yuriy Kozachuk, breaks down the specs and great uses for the Predator Orion 7000.
On the laptop side, the Acer Predator Helios 19 AI accomplishes its mission with the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor (up to 5.4 GHz max turbo frequency with its 24 cores), an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 graphics card, a 1 TB NVMe SSD, one 32 GB 4400 MT/s RAM stick, and features 6th gen aeroblade 3D fan technology (boasting airflow efficientcy by 20%). A key gaming feature with the Predator Helios 19 AI’s keyboard is that they have hot-swappable mechanical switches for the WASD and arrow keys, allowing CS2 players to counterstrafe just the way they like it.
The best part of the Intel Gaming Tent was how many different activities guests took part in. This was a taste of all the different events and activations the Intel Gaming Tent visitors got to experience:
- eSports Pro Autograph Signings
- Gaming/Tech Demo Presentations
- Free Giveaways!
- Free Play Time (On PCs, laptops, racing sims, handheld consoles, etc.)
- Photo Ops
4. XPERION/IEM Cologne 2025 Afterparty Venue
One of the most enlightening highlights of this trip was noticing how deeply eSports and gaming are ingrained in the lifestyles of the people in Cologne and Germany. Intel held an afterparty after the quarterfinal matches at a shopping/retail store called XPERION, which had three locations around Germany: Cologne, Berlin, and Hamburg. The location enthralled me because it was as if Best Buy/Future Shop had a baby with an internet café.
Visitors could buy peripherals from some of the biggest tech brands, such as SteelSeries, Razer, or HyperX. Or, visitors could enjoy playing games on some top-of-the-line PCs. The most shocking truth about this storefront is that you can play here for free, all day, and any day they are open.
That was just the storefront. In the back, XPERION has separate rooms and one big lecture hall-sized room for events. We talked with the Project Lead & Business Development at XPERION Germany, Nils Wenselau, who explained how the event space could be used for various purposes, sizes, and pricing. Wenselau detailed how the big space could hold events like live local competitive matches or hosting a panel, with a separate room for the casters.
The lecture hall-sized room was said to accommodate approximately 150 people, and the buyer could have staff work the event. Wenselau spoke about how XPERION is willing to work with event/community organizers to negotiate the best pricing, and XPERION is open to two-way advertising deals too.
5. The City of Cologne/The Food
As I only got a taste of what Cologne as a city had to offer, two things were spectacular to see: IEM Cologne at the LANXESS Arena and Cologne Cathedral (Hohe Domkirche St. Petrus Kölner Dom, in English, The Cathedral of St. Peter). This cathedral is something out of a Dark Souls game, or somewhere Vlad Țepeș Dracula from Castlevania would be hanging out. Other than the massively intimidating monolith, the expansive Cologne Central Station (known as Köln Hauptbahnhof) is something I could only have imagined through Hollywood movies set in Europe—like a scene out of a Harry Potter film.
As for the Cologne food, I may not have tried a lot of local, traditional foods on this trip. However, I can vouch that everything tasted amazing at any of the restaurants, bars, or stands. Pretzels are way better in Cologne and Germany in general, staying super puffy for an extended amount of time—unlike the ones made in Canada. The sea salt also provided a clean, enhanced saltiness that was not overbearing; rather, the sea salt complemented the pretzel dough.
The medium rare rump steak was extremely juicy and tender—full of delectable, squirting meat juices. I had never tasted a steak as good as this before. Oh, and do not forget to try a glass or ten of some fresh Kölsch beer. It washes down a good meal nicely and smoothly.
The awesome news is that if you are a ‘major’ CS:GO/CS2 fan, then you may have already heard that the LANXESS Arena will be busy once again. After the IEM Cologne 2025 award ceremony, the trailer revealed that Cologne will be hosting the IEM Cologne Major in 2026. And if none of these descriptions or videos proved why you should be in Cologne next year, then you should prove me wrong and go check it out for yourself!
