IEM Katowice 2019: Vitality, Avangar, and ENCE move on as G2 send Fnatic packing

The Frenchmen of Vitality took on the rookie Chinese squad of ViCi gaming in the 2-1 pool. With a lot of excitement behind the matchup, it did not fail to deliver. Although the scoreline was a clean 2-0 for team Vitality, it does not do justice to the fact that how close were the maps. The Chinese team showed great resilience against a fairly experienced side of Vitality which has previous major winners.

The match started on inferno, ViCi's map pick. The Chinese squad was looking very comfortable as they took a 10-5 lead on the CT side. The Frenchmen came back all the way to tie up the series at 15-15. Once overtime started, it was all ZywOo show. The rookie decided to wake up and single-handedly carried Vitality to the next stage. The map was won by Vitality in triple overtime with the help of a fitting 1v3 from ZywOo.

The matchup continued on Vitality's pick, nuke. ViCi haven't been known to play that map but the young side definitely came prepared for it. With some innovative executes onto the sites, ViCi tried to keep the game competitive but the experience and cohesion of Vitality were too much to handle for ViCi gaming. The map ended with a scoreline of 16-12. This result meant Team Vitality have qualified for the new Legends stage and ViCi have been dropped to the 2-2 pool. They will take on the Ninjas in the last matchup to decide which team goes through.

Next up, the Kazakh side of Avangar took on the Chinese powerhouse of Tyloo. Unlike the other days, Tyloo didn't show the expected level and were thrashed 2-0 by Avangar on Inferno and Cache. Avangar have now qualified for the legends stage and Tyloo have dropped down to the 2-2 pool and will take on the samurais of G2 in their final game.

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The much-awaited game between ENCE and Winstrike was up next. The matchup started on ENCE's map pick of dust2. This also meant that the iconic map was picked the first time in this stage of the major. ENCE won the game with a comprehensive scoreline of 16-11. Winstrike returned the favor on mirage as they wrapped it up 16-7.

The final map of the series was train which initially looked quite one-sided affair as ENCE took the lead of 14-1 on the CT side. Winstrike wasn't going to down without a fight. The Russian side won 12 out of the next 13 rounds and almost made the comeback possible before losing the 29th round. The map finished with a very narrow scoreline of 16-13. ENCE have now qualified for the legends stage and Winstrike lives to fight another day. They will take Cloud9 in their final match.

Moving onto the elimination games, Ninjas in Pyjamas took on Vega Squadron. A matchup with a lot of history and storylines behind it. The brawl started on Overpass, NiP's map pick. Vega looked quite comfortable and never allowed the T side of NiP to get comfortable. The Russian side was cruising to victory until 15-7 when NiP decided to show up on the server. The Swedish squad went on to win 8 straight rounds to bring the match to overtime only to lose 19-17 in the first overtime.

Having lost their own map pick and with elimination on the line, the pressure on NiP was very high. The squad with match winners such as f0rest and GeT_RiGhT thrived under the pressure and won Vega's map pick of Train with a blistering scoreline of 16-6.

It was now all onto Mirage. The middle ground, the final map. This wasn't a pretty map. A lot of mistakes from both sides made it quite chaotic to watch.

NiP lost total 3 half buys by Vega which put them in a very precarious position. The young gun REZ was a powerhouse on the final map as he thrived the chaos to take NiP home. They finally avenged the 16-2 loss on Cache(Atlanta major 2017) and sent Vega Squadron out of the major. The final score was 16-13 on Mirage.

Up next, Fnatic took on G2. The match started on Mirage, Fnatic's map pick. It was all easy business for Fnatic as they wrapped it up quite quickly with a condescending scoreline of 16-8. G2 wrapped up Dust2 with an identical scoreline to make the series more interesting.

A lot was on the line on the final map of Overpass. The eventual result was a bit anticlimactic. Fnatic didn't show up on the server and was easily handled by G2 who now looked a very well oiled unit. G2 won the map 16-5 eliminating Fnatic. The Swedish side has missed the top 16 of the major first time in its history. The disappointment was quite evident amongst the players.

G2, on the other hand, will take on Tyloo in their final matchup of this stage.

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The final matchup of the day was between Cloud9 and Furia. It turned out to one of the most baffling series ever witnessed in the history of CSGO. It all started with Cloud9 getting battered on their own map pick of Mirage 16-1. But the North American side returned the favor in style as they closed out Inferno with the exact scoreline.

Some facts:

Cache was the decider and this series finally delivered some excitement. Cloud9 finally showed some composure and closed out the map 16-10 to stay alive in the major. Although eliminated, Furia got a lot of praise from the community and are touted as the next Brazilian powerhouse after MIBR.

Cloud9 now will take on Winstrike in their final match of this major.

The final day has a lot to offer with some exciting matchups. Who do you think is going through to Legends stage? Comment down below.