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tips.gg/CS2 (CS:GO) News/IEM Katowice Group Stage: Day 1 and 2

IEM Katowice Group Stage: Day 1 and 2

19.02.2022, 11:50

The Group Stages have begun and the Gods of CS have decided that they won’t make this boring. With a plethora of clearly unexpected results and roller coasters like never before, Katowice is showing why it’s so loved.

XVI Katowice 2022Poland, Katowice, Spodek
$1,000,000Prize Pool
24Teams
PremierTier
FaZe Clan
Winner
G2 Esports
2nd Place
Heroic
3rd Place

Without wasting too much time in the intro, let’s get into the matches themselves!

Day 1

There were 6 matches, two at almost the same time. It was a funny day, as for all three pairs, there was one expected result and one unexpected.

The losers of these matches would still get a second chance, so it’s not the end of the world. But starting your journey to the Playoffs from the Lower Bracket is not the greatest way to do it. Unless you’re NaVi, that is.

Well, here are the Day 1 matches, broken down. (most of them, at least.)

OG vs Heroic

06:32Finished17.02.2022
2HeroicEurope
1OGEurope

The first map was OG’s pick, Ancient. And it started as a pure disaster for the Fins. They fell to a 9-1 deficit, thanks to stavn and his incredible frags. But OG didn’t fall apart. They kept their cool, played their default, and trusted themselves on their strongest map. It paid off, as in the first half, they made it to 9-6. In the second half, nexa made some great calls on their CT side, the OG players were great at spamming, OG made some very intelligent info plays, and of course, niko and flameZ’s showings were undeniably strong. OG ended up winning the map 16-14.

The second map was Heroic’s surprise pick of Overpass. The Danish CT side was magical, as Heroic read OG in almost all the rounds, and gamble stacked time and time again. It’s always a treat to watch Heroic on maps like Overpass and Nuke, where they can easily get away with such aggressive CT maneuvers. OG never really found their footing on the second map and were left to fight the Danes on the third.

Inferno was a great battle of playstyles. A battle OG was meant to lose. The only first-half CT side rounds OG could muster up were when someone did something crazily aggressive, like going down mid against a full buy. Heroic won the first half 9-6. Heroic’s CT side was again similar to their previous map. At one point, they gambled stacked all 5 on A, leaving B completely open. It was crazy. But cadiaN and co. own that, and they won the map 16-13.

stavn was the MVP, and there wasn’t even a doubt.

Virtus Pro vs CPH Flames

The result was as you’d expect: VP winning 2-0. But that doesn’t mean it was a steamroll.

The first map was CPH Flames’ pick, Vertigo. But they lost the first half 12-3. Harrowing, but VP’s secret weapon to that was their response to being a man down. The rotations, the synergy… *chef’s kiss.* That plus Flames’ indecisiveness on the T side meant that the first map was as good as done in the first half.

The second map wasn’t too much better either, as VP rushed to an 12-5 lead. buster’s performance was more than enough to easily secure VP the map, and the match.

Despite YEKINDAR getting a total of THREE aces in the match, it was clear that buster was the MVP.

Team Vitality vs MOUZ

10:36Finished17.02.2022
2VitalityEurope
1MOUZEurope

Vitality vs MOUZ was a fairly straightforward affair. Vitality was expected to win, and they did not disappoint. What was surprising, though, was the intense fight MOUZ put up at every step of the way. Three maps, three total overtimes, and a lot of struggle, some intense brawling between former teammates apeX and NBK-, the dying blood of a dynasty that once was. A great match, indeed.

The first map was MOUZ’s Vertigo. It took two overtimes to separate these two teams, and that is a testament that both played their roles to perfection. There was a good chance for Vitality to close this out in the first overtime, but they managed to throw away a 5v2. They did win it in their next chance, of couse. Thanks to zywOo’s 40-bomb no less.

Next came Inferno. And even that map went to overtime. The only real talking point apart from the overall strength of both teams was how risky MOUZ were playing on their T side. That early round Banana aggression? Wow. Nevertheless, Vitality conceded this one in the dying breaths, as MOUZ won the map 19-17. torzsi, the recently promoted academy player, got 34 kills. I’ll just leave it at that.

The decider map was Nuke, and it certainly didn’t live up to the expectation created by the first two maps. It was a crazy game indeed. Vitality won the first half by a landslide, winning 14-1 on their CT side. MOUZ tried to respond with their own defense, taking it to 15-10 before finally condeding defeat. Bomb got planted only four times in 26 rounds. That’s how crazy the match was.

And with that match littered with iconic scorelines, Vitality had progressed to UB Round 2, where they were about to face Heroic.

NiP vs Gambit

10:01Finished17.02.2022
1Gambitrussia (terrorist state)
2Ninjas in PyjamasSweden

Here’s the complementary pair. The shocking result. NiP defeated Gambit 2-1. It’s only Day 1 and I’m already giving up on predicting stuff.

Well, the match started rather “normally.” Gambit took an 11-4 CT side lead on NiP’s Ancient, and life was going on smoothly. Hampus’ men had other plans, as they bounced back with a 12-2 CT side of their own, defeating Gambit 16-13 in the process. hampus’ shutting down the whole mid region by himself effectively won them the map. HObbit had no way through. Masterclass.

The second map was Gambit’s Vertigo. They weren’t so crisp and clean, but they got the job done. It wasn’t an overly complicated affair. Gambit simply were the better team since NiP is young and inexperienced on Vertigo. NiP’s lack of trades haunted them all map, too.

Well, the battle had raged on to the final map, Overpass. And this time, it wasn’t even close. Well, the first half was, at least. It was NiP’s T side, and they won it 8-7, a good result for both the teams. But the second half was a disaster for nafany and co., as NiP won 8 out of 9 CT rounds. Three Gambit players had less than 10 kills, and it was genuinely a disaster.

And with that, the defending champions have fallen into the lower bracket, and fighting for their crown has become thrice as harder now.

FaZe vs Liquid

15:16Finished17.02.2022
1Team LiquidNorth America
2FaZe ClanEurope

Much like Vitality vs MOUZ, this was a match FaZe was expected to win fairly easily, but struggled quite a lot.

Liquid started by winning FaZe’s Mirage pick, with nitr0 being the top fragger. That sentence has so much weirdness, I know. So let’s look into what happened exactly. FaZe managed to win 7 rounds in their T side in the first half, which is great. But their CT side struggled. But we didn’t see that from the following two maps. FaZe’s defense was what won them the next two maps.

So what happened on Mirage?

Well, the core issue was Cat. jks, an instinctively defensive player, was playing Cat, an area that demands mobile, aggressive players. That was the main issue that helped Liquid win 8-4 on their T side.

Regardless, it was a great match between two good sides. oSee is getting some top-tier experience, and he’s performing fair. That makes me happy.

But it was a FaZe win nonetheless, as they won the next two maps 16-6 and 16-9. Rather comfortable.

Astralis vs FURIA

This was the last shocker of the day. FURIA are undeniably the gold of Brazil right now, as they defeated Astralis 2-0. TWO-ZERO. On LAN. With a new member.

Counter-Strike surely is weird.

Astralis picked Overpass, a fairly strong map for them. k0nfig and blameF both were shining rather well. Yet, FURIA won 16-12. The kill disparity in the Danish camp and the lack of it for the Brazilians surely played its role. FURIA’s composure and ability to slow down as and when needed stood out, and Lucky and Xyp underperforming meant Astralis simply couldn’t pull it over the line.

The second map was FURIA’s Mirage. It’s a map Astralis have started playing only after the former COL duo joined. It’s not a strong map for Astralis, but definitely not weak either. But clearly it was weak enough for them to lose on it, as FURIA won the map 16-11.

Their T side was great and dynamic, and winning it 9-6 was a huge confidence boost. Soon, they managed to close out the match without too much anxiety.

KSCERATO was the MVP. arT and saffee had great performances as well.

Day 2

Day 2 did not disappoint either, as it had some shocking results as well. Some big teams suffered some unexpected losses, whilst others uncharacteristically struggled. Without further ado, let’s get into the matches.

NaVi vs ENCE

It’s probably the greatest team in the history of Counter-Strike versus a depleted ENCE who last played a competitive match in 2021. So needless to say NaVi rolled over them and won easily right? Well, to the relief of millions around the world, NaVi did win. But it was anything but easy.

The first map lived up to the normal expectations: NaVi rushed to a 15-3 lead on ENCE’s own map pick of Mirage. ENCE tried to make the scoreline less humiliating, but it was clear that the victory was NaVi’s. Every single NaVi player stepped up, and hades’ underperformance meant NaVi didn’t need a tactical masterclass to win the map easily.

But can it really be an important NaVi match without a masterclass? Either by NaVi… or against them?

Against all odds, ENCE produced a result so shocking that not even a bettor as high as the Burj Khalifa would predict. ENCE had utterly humiliated NaVi 16-4 on none other than Nuke.

It was a phenomenon. A masterpiece of Counter-Strike. A match for the ages. Sorry NaVi fans, but the way electronic’s Outer plans were flushed and how there were at least two ENCE players in every key areas of the map when NaVi tried to attack was breathtaking. All this coming off the back of a fairly embarrassing Mirage. ENCE had shown their nerves of steel, and going into the final map, they were far from the underdogs. The earth seemed to have shattered for the CIS side, as ENCE won the first half 10-5 on Overpass.

Were ENCE walk the unbeaten path like MIBR, Astralis and NiP had done? It was close, but they failed, losing 16-14, as narrow as it can get. All thanks to Perfecto, who took matters in his own hands by putting in a 1.59 rating on the final map, s1mple’s 1.16 being second.

Needless to say, Perfecto won the MVP award, deservingly.

Boomb14’s hotel-room isolation had stirred NaVi, but not enough for a series loss. Thankfully, Lord Boom has tested negative twice now, and he’s been cleared to play with the rest of the gang.

The show goes on.

fnatic vs G2

06:35Finished18.02.2022
1G2 EsportsEurope
2fnaticEurope

As I said, for every expected result, there was an unexpected one. G2 were playing at the same time as NaVi.

NaVi started the first map, the opponent’s map pick, in dominant fashion, rushing to a 15-3 lead. G2 put in their version too, defeating fnatic 16-2 on the Brits’ own pick of Nuke. (Yeah, surprising to see a worse Nuke match on the same day.)

NaVi followed it up by self-humiliation on a map they call their best, and G2 followed suit. fnatic avenged their loss by defeating G2 16-7 on Mirage.

NaVi then went on to lose the first half of the final map 10-5, and so did G2.

After going hand in hand for so long, G2 finally broke the pattern, as they couldn’t mirror NaVi’s hard-fought 30th round victory. Aleksib’s men fell 16-11 on Inferno, and fnatic had pulled off the upset.

So where did G2 go wrong? The T side on Mirage was bad. That’s not surprising at all, is it? It’s just that G2 didn’t really have any real ideas to break the British defense, no rhythm to do so. The best they tried was some flashes, followed by raw fragging power. This doesn’t look good for Aleksib.

On the final map then, ALEX put in a serious masterclass. He was in Aleksib’s head from the start till the end. It was disastrous for G2. They were overthinking and second-guessing themselves too much. They lacked rhythm, and they failed to convert even the rounds they had an advantage in.

G2 need to gather up and trust themselves. Half of their problems will be solved simply by trusting their guts. We’ll see that very soon as G2 will now face Team Liquid in an elimination match. Hard to believe that one of these teams will be going home so early. But that’s the beauty of the game, isn’t it?

MOUZ vs OG

This was the first elimination match to be played, and one of these two top teams was gonna be the first to eliminate the Group Stages. As it turns out, it was OG to leave. The Fins lost to MOUZ 2-0 and became the first to board their planes back home. (And into a bootcamp, I hope.)

The first map was MOUZ’s Nuke, and NBK rolled back the years when he put in a 1.30 rating performance. mantuu and nexa got a similar number of frags as NBK, but the rest of OG lingered around the 10-kill mark, half as much as the other two OG players. It was undeniably a poor showing, but Ancient was next. OG’s strongest map could’ve been that confidence boost.

But it was a genuine disaster. After a fair first half that OG won 8-7, their CT side second half was terrible, to say the least. On a map that’s quite CT sided, OG could only muster up 1 round, as MOUZ won 9, to keep their Playoffs hopes alive.

Sadly for OG, this means that they’ll have their journey to the fan-filled Spodek Arena cut short.

Gambit vs CPH Flames

Gambit were undoubtedly the clear favorite going into this match, despite their earlier loss. They did win and progress, making CPH Flames the second GS team to be eliminated, but it was far from easy.

CPH Flames fought on every map, for every round. That helped them win Gambit’s map pick of Inferno, but unfortunately, it was sandwiched by two Gambit victories. It wasn’t a complicated game, especially because of Ax1le’s and sh1ro’s grand 1.40 rating performances.

And just like that, Copenhagen Flames’ hopes of creating another Cinderella run as they did in the Major dies out, making way for a newer team to unexpectedly shine.

Team Vitality vs Heroic

10:01Finished18.02.2022
2HeroicEurope
0VitalityEurope

Given Vitality’s form, it wasn’t a surprise that they were slightly favored.

I would’ve predicted the winner to be Vitality, but with such little confidence that it wouldn’t move a single face muscle if I see that they lost. That’s simply because it’s a well-placed match between two fairly good teams. What did made me gasp is a 2-0.

The first map was Heroic’s Mirage. sjuush put in a heroic 30-kill performance to overturn Heroic’s 7-1 early deficit. Heroic had faith in themselves and knew they are the better team. They did some great improvisation, switching between defaults and creatives as and when needed.

The second map was so spicy that you might have needed a glass of Sprite while watching the match. Double overtime. dupreeh and stavn, 42 and 38 kills. 1.6 ratings. Heroic winning an eco round in the 30th round to take it to overtime. A cadiaN 1v2 clutch in the final round of play to win Heroic the round, the map, and the match. A classic goosebumps-inducing celebration from the Danish IGL and his team. Legendary.

That made Heroic the first team to qualify for the Playoffs. They still have a match to play in the GS of course, but they’ll qualify even if they lose the match.

Iconic from the Major semifinalists. Heroic are not onliners.

Virtus Pro vs NiP

13:31Finished18.02.2022
2Virtus.prorussia (terrorist state)
1Ninjas in PyjamasSweden

VP have managed to become the second team to qualify for the Playoffs, alonside Heroic of course. To see who takes the cream of the cake is a question for the future, though. For now, let’s see how VP pulled it off against NiP.

Needless to say, it went to the third map. Weirdly, the two teams won each other’s map picks before heading there.

VP won the first, solely thanks to YEKINDAR’s amazing info plays in the mid and late rounds. NiP wont the second, which was Vertigo, VP’s favourite map. NiP did extremely well in their T side, thanks to non-default, spontaneous, uncomplicated tactics. It definitely caught the Polish off guard.

The decider map was Ancient. On a map that’s generally call CT-sided, VP ran rampant, winning their attacking first half 11-4. Their utility drainage from the opponents is something I liked. They split the spoils even in the second half, and that was more than enough to ensure them a victory. A Playoffs place.

I considered the Day 1 results to be fluky, but now it’s clear. There are no favorites, there is nothing called expected. CS in Katowice has been thrown into a void of uncertainty and unpredictability, and the larger this void grows, the more fun it is for the fans.

Katowice 2022 is itching to write itself in IEM history.

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