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tips.gg/CS2 (CS:GO) News/IEM Katowice Semifinals: The International Shock

IEM Katowice Semifinals: The International Shock

Analytics
26.02.2022, 19:15

The semifinals truly worthy of being deemed as the “clutch galore” just came to an end, with some surprising results on the cards. The two teams laden with roster and coach issues turn their sights away from the negativity and the shortcomings, and focus on the brighter sides instead.

That mentality bode well for both the teams, as they produced rather shocking results, a word well-defined in its own right. We might as well have witnessed history today, as G2 finally succeeded in taking down the kings of Counter-Strike.

The penultimate day of Katowice flew by our faces with a sweetened mix of sting and kiss. With the two international rosters booking their place in the Grand Finals of probably the most prestigious tournament there is, the future of diversity, and the warm blood of the young, might be closing in.

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

Two contests down, one to go. Here’s what happened.

G2 vs NaVi

09:40Finished26.02.2022
2G2 EsportsEurope
0Natus VincereEurope

The matchup that NaVi couldn’t have enough of was here again. The IEM Katowice 2020 Grand Finals, IEM Cologne 2021 Grand Finals, and of course, PGL Stockholm Major 2021 Grand Finals. NaVi had gone 8-0 in all three high-stake matches.

But m0NESY was here. And with AmaNek standing in for coach XTQZZZ, this was the greatest time for G2 to sharpen their blades and go in for the kill on a mentally weakened NaVi. May all that plague viciousness on this planet wither with their breaths. But this competition goes on; it waits for none.

G2 finally defeated NaVi in a series, the first time they had done it in a literal CS:GO eternity. WIth m0NESY putting in a mind-blowing MVP-worthy masterclass and the Kovac brothers taking their turns to shine, this match, as the players admitted themselves, was the best series that the team had played ever since the formation of this new roster.

That said, let’s get into what really transpired on a fateful Saturday evening in Spodek.

The first map was G2’s Inferno. The pistol round went to the attacking G2, without them losing a single player. The next 11 rounds had G2’s name written all over it. They won 9 of those rounds, losing only 2. In one of the rounds they lost, s1mple was doing classic s1mple things: crazy early mid aggression to catch NiKo off guard. The other round was a weird one where the whole of NaVi was contesting from the middle of nowhere. Regardless, it was a great T side from G2. They did a few good A hits, but their real recipe for success was the Banana fights against Boomb14 and exploiting NaVi’s weakened B defense. After the 12th round, NaVi took a timeout and fixed their problems, showcasing a variety of strats. Early aggression, great positioning on A, and a lot of early damage on Banana; NaVi gave themselves good breathing space.

NaVi’s T side started with a great pistol round where they basically had to retake a bombsite they planted the bomb on. It went NaVi’s way somehow, and after converting the next round, NaVi were in a good place: 10-7. But they lost the next round which broke their economy, and G2 kept winning, making it 14-7. Two rounds later, it was 15-8, and a hill too tall for NaVi to climb. They tried their best by returning to their fundamentals and making no mistakes, but that finally ended after a run of 4 rounds. G2 had won their own map pick of Inferno.

The second map was NaVi’s Mirage, the golden map that was never played in that Major final. With NaVi supposedly hoarding Mirage tactics, and G2 struggling on the map yesterday, there’s clearly a strong reason why NaVi picked this map. Those reasons were shrouded and lost amidst a m0NESY masterclass.

The match started with NaVi winning the pistol and converting the next 2. b1t shone as he took home a pistol headshot ace and followed it up by a 3k in the next round. But G2 silenced him thereafter. Only s1mple could find any impact in the first gun round, as m0NESY came alive with his AWP. NaVi kept losing players at every step of the way after that and fell to a 6-3 deficit. In the eco round that followed, NaVi somehow won it, thanks to a crazy 1v2 clutch from Boomb14. Most of us thought that would be the highlight of the half, but the real highlight was yet to come.

After a good tactical round from NaVi where they managed to down 4 G2 players and take B with 3 boys in yellow still alive, they seemed to have made it 6-5. But the last player alive was none other than their own creation: m0NESY. Peek, shoot, crazy flick, shoot, crazy flick, shoot. Just like that, m0NESY had pulled out an even better 1v3 clutch that even Aleksib couldn’t believe.

That broke the spirits of NaVi, and they never really recovered. Instead of it being 6-5, NaVi’s world was shattered by their own child. m0NESY boosted G2 to a place where they closed out the half dominantly with an 11-4 scoreline.

G2 couldn’t carry that momentum into the second half, though. zonic’s law came into place, and NaVi put on a rock-solid defense to make it 11-11. Aggression from s1mple, pitch-perfect trades, and good experience led the way. But the run ended when m0NESY out-AWPed s1mple and created a much-needed opening for G2. They finally converted a round and retook the lead, 12-11. The next round was another good one was G2, but Boomb14 put on a high IQ 1v3 clutch to catch G2 off guard and tie things up again, 12-12. Another pair of rounds later, it was 13-13.

The next round was everything because both teams’ money was on the line. And it was G2 that prevailed, thanks to perfect late-round 2k by m0NESY on A. NaVi was in tatters following that round, as G2 picked up an easy win against forcebuys. It was 15-13, and G2 were one round away from eliminating the mighty NaVi 2-0.

All they had to fight against were a few Deagles and MP9. G2 even almost fluffed that, but they managed to keep it competitive. The match ended in the most iconic way possible: a 1v1 between NiKo and s1mple.

NiKo came out on top. G2 had 2-0ed NaVi and progressed to the Grand Finals in Katowice.

Legendary.

FaZe vs Heroic

13:12Finished26.02.2022
2FaZe ClanEurope
0HeroicEurope

A classic red vs red matchup between two in-form teams of Katowice. It’s a true shame that only one could go through to the Grand Final against the sky-high G2. With jks standing in for rain, just like yesterday, the team surely was at a delicate point. But as the weaknesses, doubts, and fears stood behind the huge presence of karrigan, FaZe simply had no option but to annihilate Heroic and their dream LAN run to the semifinals in the Spodek.

The first map was FaZe’s pick, Inferno. Just like it was in the G2 vs NaVi match, the map-picking T side rushed to an unresponsive 10-2 lead. Multi kills, round after round, by broky set the record straight for everyone on the server. jks and ropz aptly stepped up, while Heroic kept finding their defense being penetrated over and over again. The Danes are famous for their super aggressive and volatile CT side, one of the key things that makes cadiaN, cadiaN. And though those tactics worked very well in the Group Stage, this FaZe (and karrigan) was a different beast. karrigan’s toyed with the rotations, deploying players in the extremities of the map, and really pulled the play zone to its extreme. The mid-round calls were beautiful, and that coupled with some of the individual frags by these players meant there was little to no chance for the suffocating Heroic side to shine.

After falling down to a 13-5 lead, the now attacking Danish side finally found some momentum. They won 6 of the next 7 rounds, but the comeback was another case of “too little, too late” for Heroic. It was broky again who got a crazy 4k to secure map point for the international squad, with ropz closing down the server 16-11 after his own moment of glory in the final Inferno round.

Nuke was a very surprise pick by Heroic. In the last three months, they had only played it 5 times, losing 4 of them. That was definitely a stat to be proud of, and surely not one you would want to bank on in a Katowice semifinal. But Heroic did it heroically… and faltered on it equally as badly. The Danes were clearly putting their money on the fact that Nuke is too much of a chemistry-based map for the turbulent FaZe roster to be good at.

cadiaN and co. clearly did not account for the sheer power karrigan has orbed around him in the preceding decades. Honestly, given the circumstances, this Nuke match between FaZe and Heroic was one of the best maps to be played in Katowice so far. Not less because we saw karrigan top fragging on this map. Yep, let that sink in. That said, let’s get into the story of how the international squad ousted the Danes 16-5 on Nuke.

FaZe started the match with a bang, winning the pistol and converting the following two on their CT side. But after that point on, it was a back-and-forth affair for both the teams. FaZe won two rounds in a row at times, but neither of the team was able to build any kind of momentum. That clearly helped FaZe, as they found themselves in another 10-5 lead at halftime.

With karrigan’s multikills, broky’s rock-solid hold over outside yard and his unrelenting punishments for the aggression, and ropz locking down ramp, there was simply no way in for Heroic.

A 3-0 start would’ve been ideal for Heroic in the second half, given their deficit. But the complete opposite happened. Thanks to broky and ropz, it was FaZe that took the 3-0 lead, and then easily pushed it to 6-0 to close the map, the match, and the last semifinal 16-5.

Soul Chemistry.

It was amazing to see how the two semifinal MVPs were the youngsters, standing tall with the CS:GO torch in their hands, burning bright. broky and m0NESY give me hope for the future, and for the fact that CS is not dying or withering away any time soon.

The Future is here.

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