Another day of action at the IEM Katowice Major is done and dusted, and three teams are headed home as a result of today’s matches.
Ninjas in Pyjamas, G2 Esports, and Cloud9 picked up wins today to stay alive in the New Challengers stage of Valve’s 14th Major. They took down Vega Squadron, Fnatic, and FURIA Esports in the 1-2 elimination matches, respectively, effectively knocking them out of the $1 million tournament.
Related: Vitality, AVANGAR, and ENCE take 3 New Legends spots at IEM Katowice
NiP narrowly defeated the CIS underdog in three maps, capitalizing on their mistakes in the latter maps, Train and Mirage, after losing map one Overpass in overtime. Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg and Fedrik “REZ” Sterner averaged 25 kills per map in the Swedish victory.
In the second game, G2 stole the show from Fnatic by securing two easy wins on their classic map picks, Dust II and Overpass.
The last match of the day, FURIA vs. Cloud9, was a rollercoaster of emotions. FURIA demolished the North Americans on Mirage, and they received the same treatment on Inferno. Then C9’s T side hoisted them to the win on Cache, with rookie Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro sealing the deal with a one-vs-three clutch toward the end of the map.
Round four
1-2 matches
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Vega Squadron
- Vega won Overpass 19-17
- NiP won Train 16-6
- NiP won Mirage 16-13
G2 Esports vs. Fnatic
- Fnatic won Mirage 16-8
- G2 won Dust II 16-8
- G2 won Overpass 16-5
Cloud9 vs. FURIA Esports
- FURIA won Mirage 16-1
- C9 won Inferno 16-1
- C9 won Cache 16-10
The final day of the New Challengers stage begins tomorrow at 6am CT. The 2-2 decider matches will be NiP vs. ViCi Gaming, G2 vs. TyLoo, and finally Cloud9 vs. Winstrike. IEM Katowice will then continue on Feb. 20 with the New Legends stage.
