The playoffs of the IEM Katowice Major commenced today with FaZe Clan taking on Natus Vincere—and the first CS:GO titan has been eliminated from the New Champions stage bracket.
Na’Vi knocked out FaZe in the first quarterfinal of the playoffs, winning the series 2-0 in relatively-convincing fashion. In the map veto phase, FaZe picked Inferno, Na’Vi chose Mirage, and Dust II was the remaining map. But Na’Vi only needed two maps to eliminate FaZe, who boasts Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer as the only player to retain Legend status in every single Valve Major in history.
Related: ENCE, NiP, and FaZe finalize the playoff bracket at the IEM Katowice Major
Quarterfinal No. 1: Natus Vincere vs. FaZe Clan
Na’Vi won Inferno 16-13
Egor “flamie” Vasilyev opened up the match with an insane pistol round ace clutch, taking down the FaZe side one-by-one on the retake. Even though the CIS powerhouse took the early lead, Nikola “NiKo” Kovac and crew dominated the map on their T side, taking control on every crevice of the map—at least, until Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev came alive late in the half on the AWP.
Flamie picked up another crazy pistol round ace on the Na’Vi offensive, possibly making him the first player in history to attain two pistol round aces in the same map of a Major playoff. The second half was much more contested with both sides fighting for economic stability. Na’Vi then ran away with the game once FaZe were reset and began struggling on CT.
Na’Vi won Mirage 16-7
Mirage had a different storyline, though, as Na’Vi kept the FaZe side on their heels the entire time. Despite losing the first pistol round, the CIS squad won and maintained mid control going through most of their buy rounds. This allowed them to gain a modest 9-6 lead, in which FaZe barely scraped by on CT.
Na’Vi then streaked their way to the 2-0 sweep after losing the second pistol round. Denis “electronic” Sharipov topped the server by the end at 23 kills per map, barely outfragging flamie’s 20 kills per map by a slight margin.
With this semifinal win, Na’Vi secure a spot in the semifinals, where they’ll play the winner of the match between Team Liquid and ENCE Esports. That match will begin at 1:50pm CT.
