The group competition has concluded, with six teams advancing to the IEM Katowice tournament’s Playoffs. The competition to advance to the next stage has been fierce, as one would expect from such a large event. The competition had two groups with a double-elimination format. Along with the teams who directly qualified for the event, the top eight teams from the Play-Ins were included in the groups. Let’s take a look at what happened in each IEM Katowice group.
Group A – Upper Bracket
With a 2-1 victory over MOUZ, Team Vitality established their dominance in the group. Heroic began with a 2-1 victory over OG, and Virtus.pro followed with a 2-0 victory over CPH Flames. Ninjas in Pyjamas faced tough competition in the form of Gambit, but they prevailed 2-1.
To everyone’s surprise, Heroic defeated Vitality in the second round by a score of two games to one. In a 2-1 victory over NiP, Virtus.pro also took the lead.
Heroic defeated VP 2-0 in the third round. The first match on Mirage was a disaster for VP, as they struggled to get rounds and were defeated 16-5. Although VP performed much better in the second match on Vertigo, it was not enough to defeat Heroic, who won 16-10.
The teams that made it to the Playoffs were Heroic and VP.
Lower Bracket
MOUZ defeated OG in the Lower Bracket in the first round with a 2-0 score. CPH Flames were defeated 2-1 by Gambit Esports.
In the first round of the second round, NiP defeated MOUZ 2-0. Gambit Esports, on the other hand, defeated Team Vitality 2-0.
Gambit was written all over the third and final round. The Russian team defeated NiP 2-0 and qualified for the Playoffs. Gambit defeated Ancient by a score of 16-10 and Vertigo by a score of 16-12.
Group B – Upper Bracket
Natus Vincere defeated ENCE in the first round of Group B, winning 2-1. FURIA Esports won 2-0 over an underperforming Astralis team. FaZe Clan defeated Liquid 2-1, and Fnatic defeated G2 Esports by the same score.
NAVI began the second round by defeating FURIA 2-0. FaZe also defeated Fnatic with a 2-1 score.
NAVI defeated FaZe 2-1 in the final round, ensuring that both teams qualified for the Playoffs. The first Overpass match was a close one, with FaZe winning by three rounds. NAVI won the second match on Dust II 16-12, as did the final match on Mirage. In a close game that went to overtime, NAVI won by a score of 22-19.
Lower Bracket
In the first round, Astralis defeated ENCE 2-1. G2, on the other hand, defeated Team Liquid 2-0.
In the second round, Astralis defeated Fnatic 2-1, and G2 defeated FURIA 2-1.
Astralis’ run came to an end after G2 defeated them 2-1 in the final round. The first match on Ancient was won by Astralis with a score of 16-12. However, G2 came back strongly in the second match on Dust II, winning by a massive 11-round margin. G2 won the third match on Inferno 16-1, which was similar to the second game.