FaZe destroy NiP; AST beat fnatic

The match between FaZe and NiP began with Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli getting an ace in the pistol round, with FaZe following that up with three more rounds to take a 4-0 lead.

With little money to work with, NiP pushed A on a force buy looking to at least plant the bomb, but they got more than that as they successfully defended the site.

allu put in a great display against his old team 

That was the start of a great run from the Ninjas, who restored parity at 4-4, but it all went downhill from there for the Swedes. For the rest of the half, FaZe denied NiP the chance to plant the bomb, holding them off of any economic development, with the scoreline blooming to an 11-4 advantage for the European mixture.

NiP won the pistol round as CT to keep their hopes alive, but FaZe hit back on a force buy, capitalising on a poor read by the Swedes, who left the A site wide open. FaZe would eventually hit 14 rounds, and while NiP still got one more round on the board, there was nothing they could do to halt their opponents' momentum.

The other group match was a Nordic showdown between fnatic and Astralis on the recently-revamped Inferno. The Swedish team came out with fire in their bellies and stormed to a 6-2 lead, but, after the Danes called a timeout, the game was turned on its head.

A triple kill from Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye punishing fnatic's overconfidence was the catalyst started a great run from Astralis, who closed out the half with just a one-round deficit.

Xyp9x rescued Astralis with a monster clutch 

Now playing on the Terrorist side, Astralis won the pistol round, but fnatic came right back to win the next round. They carried this momentum into two more rounds, bringing the scoreline to an 11-8 lead.

Even as Astralis rallied to take the next five rounds, fnatic hit back and reached map point at 15-13. It looked like the game was all but over, but Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth single-handedly rescued Astralis with a 1v3 clutch, with the Danes winning the next round as well to force overtime.

With the momentum riding in their favor, Astralis won two rounds in each half to secure a 19-17 win and pick up three more points in Katowice.