The first map of Ancient played between top 20 teams went the way of FunPlus Phoenix.

The initial matches of IEM Summer Group A have been concluded as FunPlus Phoenix defeated Astralis 16-7 on Ancient and G2 breezed past Extra Salt 16-1 on Inferno. Earlier in the day, Vitality and Gambit secured victories in the BO1 portion of the group stage.

The clash between Astralis and FunPlus Phoenix went down the newest addition to the CS:GO map pool, Ancient, after the Danes decided to remove Vertigo in the last round of the veto.

zehN was two frags away from a 30-bomb against Astralis

Things didn't go the Danes' way in the match, though, as the team led by Luka "⁠emi⁠" Vuković was 10-5 up after the first half. Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander and Jesse "⁠zehN⁠" Linjala were stars for their respective sides, stepping up with multikills and clutches, but FunPlus Phoenix seemed more comfortable on the map and closed things out following a six-round streak in the second half.

"It can be quite an advantage for us because people know that we can play it [Ancient] to a fairly good level", Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk said about the veto leverage winning the first Ancient game between two top 20 teams gives them but added that the downside is the information their opponents will be able to get out of today's match.

In the final BO1 match of group A, G2 trounced North American representatives Extra Salt 16-1 on Inferno. The French-Balkan unit dominated in opening duels and converted their advantages as Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and François "⁠amanek⁠" Delaunay topped the scoreboard with outsdanding 2.00+ ratings.

IEM Summer 2021Best of 1 AstralisMatchpage 7 16 3rd June 2021 FunPlus Phoenix 7Ancient 16

Astralis	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossandergla1ve	24 - 20	+4	97.9	1.48
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	15 - 19	-4	72.5	0.90
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	12 - 19	-7	78.5	0.85
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	10 - 19	-9	51.0	0.57
Lucas 'Bubzkji' AndersenBubzkji	11 - 21	-10	61.9	0.49

FunPlus Phoenix	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jesse 'zehN' LinjalazehN	28 - 13	+15	116.0	1.85
Luka 'emi' Vukovićemi	20 - 17	+3	90.8	1.41
Martin 'STYKO' StykSTYKO	17 - 11	+6	82.0	1.35
Pavle 'Maden' BoškovićMaden	18 - 16	+2	88.5	1.23
Asger 'Farlig' JensenFarlig	14 - 17	-3	63.0	0.94

IEM Summer 2021Best of 1 Extra SaltMatchpage 1 16 3rd June 2021 G2 1Inferno 16

Extra Salt	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekSonic	11 - 16	-5	75.2	0.84
Josh 'oSee' OhmoSee	10 - 16	-6	69.8	0.70
Justin 'FaNg' CoakleyFaNg	7 - 16	-9	50.8	0.59
Edgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoMarKE	6 - 15	-9	43.6	0.48
Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouJT	6 - 17	-11	40.5	0.46

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	24 - 7	+17	139.6	2.22
François 'amanek' Delaunayamanek	23 - 7	+16	124.6	2.03
Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovićnexa	11 - 2	+9	69.2	1.44
Audric 'JACKZ' JugJACKZ	10 - 12	-2	71.9	1.08
Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačhuNter-	12 - 12	0	79.6	0.99

With the opening matches out of the way, the second series of matches in group A is now known. Gambit will take on Vitality and FunPlus Phoenix will face off with G2 in the upper bracket, while Complexity and Astralis will fight for their survival in the lower bracket against Sprout and Extra Salt, respectively.

Jesse 'zehN' Linjala Age: 29 Team: FunPlus Phoenix Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1016 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 Sprout #31 Timo 'Spiidi' RichterDenis 'denis' HowellMarko 'kressy' ĐorđevićJosef 'faveN' BaumannFritz 'slaxz-' Dietrich G2 #4 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Extra Salt #18 Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekEdgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouJosh 'oSee' OhmJustin 'FaNg' Coakley Luka 'emi' Vuković Age: 27 Team: FunPlus Phoenix Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 1010 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.68 François 'amanek' Delaunay Age: 27 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 916 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.63 Vitality #12 Richard 'shox' PapillonDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' RabierJayson 'Kyojin' Nguyen Van FunPlus Phoenix #17 Jesse 'zehN' LinjalaLuka 'emi' VukovićMartin 'STYKO' StykPavle 'Maden' BoškovićAsger 'Farlig' Jensen Astralis #5 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderEmil 'Magisk' ReifLucas 'Bubzkji' Andersen Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander Age: 25 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 1506 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.66 Complexity #13 Justin 'jks' SavageWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaKristian 'k0nfig' WieneckeValentin 'poizon' VasilevBenjamin 'blameF' Bremer Gambit #1 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov Martin 'STYKO' Styk Age: 25 Team: FunPlus Phoenix Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 1374 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.66 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 24 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 1440 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.67