Spirit beat Heroic to advance to IEM Katowice playoffs; G2 see off BIG

The CIS team extended their dream start to the tournament, while the international lineup avoided elimination in the lower bracket.

Spirit have advanced to the Group A upper bracket final of IEM Katowice, assuring themselves of a spot in the playoffs and continuing a dream run from the Play-In stage, having now defeated Cloud9, BIG, G2, and HEROIC. They are set to face off against Astralis at 15:30 on Sunday, with the victor advancing directly to the semi-finals and the loser booking a quarter-final spot. Meanwhile, G2 saw to the elimination of BIG in a two-map series, and will next take on Evil Geniuses on Saturday at 19:00 as they look to continue their lower bracket run in Group A.

Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov and Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov were the frontrunners for Spirit in an Inferno win over HEROIC, a map where the Danish side found their defenses torn apart as Spirit took a 9-6 lead at the break. Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller and company briefly gained the upper hand in the second half, converting a pistol win into a string of four rounds, but were left out of sorts as Spirit put up a stalwart defense from there, dropping just two rounds en route to a 16-12 map win.

Spirit have booked a ticket to the playoffs of IEM Katowice

Spirit remained in control on Nuke, with HEROIC unable to string together rounds until the end of the first half, leading to a 10-5 scoreline for the CIS side. It seemed as if HEROIC would make good on a comeback effort in the second half as Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen helped keep the Danish team in the running, clawing back to a 14-13 scoreline, but Spirit claimed match point first before chopper closed out the map with a 1vs3 clutch, edging out a victory for his side.

G2 took an early lead on Inferno, securing a T side pistol victory and converting subsequent rounds for a 3-0 start. Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische helped to get BIG on the board, rotating around the map with his AWP and tearing apart G2's defaults, combining with a steadfast B hold from Nils "⁠k1to⁠" Gruhne as BIG took seven rounds in a row. A change of pace from Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković's troops was what allowed them to finally crack through, rallying at the end of the half to edge out a one-round lead. Although BIG took three rounds of their own off the break, they were unable to contest G2's defensive setups once rifles were in hand, with Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač leading their way in a 16-10 victory.

The situation seemed to take a grim turn for G2 on their pick of Mirage as their initial three-round lead quickly dwindled, and it was BIG who showcased a stellar defensive effort as syrsoN continued to wreak havoc, this time being joined by Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz for a 10-5 scoreline at halftime. However, G2's own CT side proved to be just as difficult to crack, with stellar fragging and information plays from NiKo proving pivotal in a nine-round spree for his side before they closed out the map shortly afterwards.

IEM Katowice 2021Best of 3 SpiritMatchpage 2 0 19th February 2021 HEROIC 16Inferno 12 16Nuke 14

Spirit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Boris 'magixx' Vorobievmagixx	40 - 34	+6	72.4	1.18
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakovchopper	40 - 37	+3	76.6	1.16
Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhevsdy	39 - 37	+2	76.1	1.15
Nikolay 'mir' Bityukovmir	42 - 41	+1	82.6	1.10
Abdul 'degster' Gasanovdegster	41 - 36	+5	67.7	1.03

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikolaj 'niko' Kristensenniko	47 - 38	+9	86.7	1.20
Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN	45 - 36	+9	69.4	1.09
René 'TeSeS' MadsenTeSeS	35 - 46	-11	71.2	0.84
Johannes 'b0RUP' Borupb0RUP	31 - 39	-8	61.6	0.83
Martin 'stavn' Lundstavn	25 - 44	-19	63.8	0.72

IEM Katowice 2021Best of 3 G2Matchpage 2 0 19th February 2021 BIG 16Inferno 10 16Mirage 12

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNiKo	49 - 37	+12	94.1	1.45
Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačhuNter-	48 - 30	+18	80.1	1.36
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	31 - 31	0	74.2	1.10
François 'amanek' Delaunayamanek	30 - 34	-4	64.8	0.96
Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovićnexa	29 - 37	-8	62.1	0.91

BIG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Johannes 'tabseN' WodarztabseN	45 - 37	+8	85.7	1.12
Florian 'syrsoN' RischesyrsoN	39 - 33	+6	75.4	1.10
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşXANTARES	28 - 36	-8	62.6	0.86
Nils 'k1to' Gruhnek1to	30 - 42	-12	65.9	0.83
Tizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschtiziaN	25 - 39	-14	54.8	0.72

Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz Age: 25 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 1633 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.70 Florian 'syrsoN' Rische Age: 24 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1415 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.63 Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač Age: 25 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1211 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.67 Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov Age: 24 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 870 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.67 Evil Geniuses #9 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Cloud9 #20 Alex 'ALEX' McMeekinPatrick 'es3tag' HansenRicky 'floppy' KemeryErick 'Xeppaa' BachWilliam 'mezii' Merriman Astralis #2 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif HEROIC #6 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerJohannes 'b0RUP' BorupNikolaj 'niko' KristensenMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' Madsen Nils 'k1to' Gruhne Age: 22 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 947 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.69 BIG #4 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşNils 'k1to' Gruhne Spirit #16 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevAbdul 'degster' GasanovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković Age: 23 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 1035 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.64 Nikolaj 'niko' Kristensen Age: 22 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1077 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.66 G2 #10 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačKenny 'kennyS' SchrubFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Abdul 'degster' Gasanov Age: 19 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.20 Maps played: 449 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.61 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Casper 'cadiaN' Møller Age: 25 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1254 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.64 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 24 Team: G2 Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 1369 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.67