NiP, Heroic blow away ORDER, Virtus.pro in Katowice

The first series of the day kicked off on ORDER's map pick, Train, with the Australians securing their CT pistol but failing to prevail in the following round. Ninjas in Pyjamas cruised to a 7-1 lead, but Simon "⁠Sico⁠" Williams and Jordan "⁠Hatz⁠" Bajic then stepped up to the plate with several for the rest of the half, helping the team to bring the deficit to a solitary round.

Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman opened up the second half with a clean USP-S triple-kill, setting Ninjas in Pyjamas up for an 11-7 lead. ORDER refused to back down and picked up the first gun round, but the Swedish team remained calm and collected, and closed out the map fairly quickly. 

dennis' NiP live to fight another day in Katowice

Next up was Mirage, where Ninjas in Pyjamas picked up their CT and the subsequent anti-ecos to secure a quick 3-0 lead. ORDER then won the first gun round with an A execution, but Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg and co. responded on a very weak buy, with the scoreline blooming to a 6-1 advantage in Ninjas in Pyjamas's favour.

Despite ORDER winning the following two rounds with clean executions, the game would continue to be a one-way street, with Ninjas in Pyjamas losing only one more round before wrapping things up, 16-4.

IEM Katowice 2018Best of 3

ORDER

Matchpage

0

2

28th February 2018

Ninjas in Pyjamas

8

Train

16

4

Mirage

16

ORDER	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Simon 'Sico' WilliamsSico	27 - 35	-8	72.8	56.8%	0.84
Jordan 'Hatz' BajicHatz	24 - 33	-9	64.4	47.7%	0.77
Jay 'Liazz' TregillgasLiazz	21 - 35	-14	60.1	50.0%	0.72
Chris 'emagine' Rowlandsemagine	16 - 36	-20	45.2	52.3%	0.55
Alistair 'aliStair' JohnstonaliStair	12 - 40	-28	39.2	31.8%	0.28

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Dennis 'dennis' Edmandennis	47 - 21	+26	113.4	84.1%	1.72
Patrik 'f0rest' Lindbergf0rest	37 - 18	+19	81.8	72.7%	1.41
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	33 - 22	+11	84.7	84.1%	1.36
William 'draken' Sundindraken	31 - 22	+9	81.6	79.5%	1.27
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundGeT_RiGhT	31 - 17	+14	61.3	75.0%	1.15

Meanwhile, HEROIC took on Virtus.pro on the secondary stream, and the Danes got off to a flying start on their map pick, Train, bagging seven rounds in a row without much response from their opponents. The Poles then came closer to securing their first round, but Jakob "⁠JUGi⁠" Hansen pulled off a 1v2 clutch for his team to remain in command.

That was when Virtus.pro's defence finally came to life with double-kills from Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski and Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski, but HEROIC instantly reset the Poles' economy. Still, the Polish team managed to string the last four rounds of the half together to reduce the deficit to five rounds by half-time.

HEROIC came from the break set to remain in the driving seat after picking up the CT pistol, but Virtus.pro responded well in a force-buy to find some breathing room. However, it was too little, too late, for Snax and co. to try to turn the game around as Heroic went on to take the map at 16-8.

RUBINO led the way for Heroic on their map pick

Virtus.pro's map pick, Cobblestone, began with HEROIC securing the initial three rounds after winning their CT pistol. And even though the Polish side replied with a triumphant gun round, Heroic quickly regained control of proceeding in part thanks to their double AWP setup.

NEO then played a key role for his team after finding two enemies and denying JUGi from clutching a 1v2. But in the next round, the 20-year-old would redeem himself, breaking Virtus.pro's economy and putting HEROIC up 6-2. 

Virtus.pro still managed to win the next two rounds, the rest of the half was a one-way street as HEROIC secured a dominant 11-4 lead.

Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer's men came into the second half with all guns blazing, picking up the pistol and following that up with the anti-ecos to go up 14-4. With a slow-paced approach, HEROIC hit 15 rounds, and then eventually finished things off.

IEM Katowice 2018Best of 3

Virtus.pro

Matchpage

0

2

28th February 2018

HEROIC

8

Train

16

6

Cobblestone

16

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	30 - 36	-6	82.2	67.4%	1.00
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	34 - 34	0	73.2	60.9%	1.00
Michał 'MICHU' MüllerMICHU	24 - 34	-10	61.9	67.4%	0.83
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	27 - 33	-6	62.7	58.7%	0.81
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	16 - 38	-22	47.6	58.7%	0.57

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Ruben 'RUBINO' VillarroelRUBINO	47 - 25	+22	97.8	73.9%	1.50
Nikolaj 'niko' Kristensenniko	38 - 27	+11	93.5	80.4%	1.30
Jakob 'JUGi' HansenJUGi	34 - 24	+10	69.7	80.4%	1.16
Andreas 'MODDII' FridhMODDII	32 - 30	+2	81.7	65.2%	1.11
Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferSnappi	24 - 25	-1	57.1	69.6%	0.96