IEM Katowice 2018NiP send G2 packing; North win Danish derby vs. Heroic
Ninjas in Pyjamas and North move on in Group B's lower bracket at IEM Katowice after defeating G2 and Heroic, respectively.
The first match of the day on the main stream featured the current No.7 team in the world, G2, who had a very slow start to the Cache game. The French team were able to recover from being 0-3 down, bringing the deficit to a solitary round, but then Ninjas in Pyjamas simply ran away with the lead.
A quad-kill from Fredrik "REZ" Sterner in the eighth round put the Ninjas further into the lead, with their winning streak only coming to an end in the 12th round, when G2 won a double AWP retake in a 2v3 situation. With Richard "shox" Papillon and Kenny "kennyS" Schrub exerting great control over the map, G2 got another round in the bag, but Ninjas in Pyjamas took the final two rounds of the half to secure an 11-4 lead.
More misery was to come for G2, who lost the pistol round after being caught off-guard by the Swedes' aggressiveness. Ninjas in Pyjamas went on to win both anti-ecos, hitting the 14-round mark, but then they lost control of the map. Dan "apEX" Madesclaire and Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt stepped up to the plate for G2, who took the game to the 30th round, but then the French side fell apart in the final round in a 5v3 situation, with Dennis "dennis" Edman' trio of kills in the vents sealing a surprisingly hard-fought victory for the Swedes.
Next up was Mirage, where G2 cruised to a 9-2 lead after setting up a strong defence, shutting down any chances of Ninjas in Pyjamas building up an economy. The Swedes then found some breathing room with back-to-back A executions with Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund leading the charge, but G2 hit back on a very weak buy in the next round. However, that did not faze the Ninjas, who bagged the final round of the half to bring the scoreline to 5-10.
G2 came out of the gate looking scary and took the second pistol round with a quick B rush. The French team then almost lost an anti-eco, but apEX came to the rescue and clutched a 1v3 situation. And while Ninjas in Pyjamas would bounce back immediately, winning a force buy, there was nothing they could do to prevent G2 from running away with the lead and locking down the map.
The match came down to Inferno, which initially followed the same pattern as the first map as Ninjas in Pyjamas were in control from the get-go. The few rounds that G2 managed to secure were few and far between, with the half ending with a 10-5 scoreline.
Carrying their momentum into the CT side, Ninjas in Pyjamas won five rounds right off the bat to hit match point. With no margin for error, G2 still managed to string a few rounds together, but they were not able to come back from their massive deficit as the Ninjas locked down the map at 16-8 to progress to the group's lower bracket final.
 Ninjas in Pyjamas |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 59 - 50 | +9 | 86.3 | 72.4% | 1.18 | |
| 52 - 50 | +2 | 73.8 | 76.3% | 1.13 | |
| 54 - 46 | +8 | 77.4 | 67.1% | 1.08 | |
| 50 - 47 | +3 | 70.5 | 68.4% | 1.04 | |
| 49 - 49 | 0 | 70.6 | 61.8% | 1.02 |
 G2 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49 - 50 | -1 | 76.5 | 68.4% | 1.04 | |
| 54 - 54 | 0 | 78.5 | 64.5% | 1.02 | |
| 48 - 57 | -9 | 72.6 | 71.1% | 0.96 | |
| 45 - 51 | -6 | 68.6 | 72.4% | 0.94 | |
| 46 - 53 | -7 | 63.1 | 61.8% | 0.88 |
Meanwhile, HEROIC and North faced off on the secondary stream in Group B's other lower bracket semi-final, with Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen's side coming out on top on their opponents' map pick, Mirage.
After a keenly-contested first half in which neither side could stamp their authority on the map, HEROIC looked a much livelier side as they bagged five of the first six rounds of the second half. Down 9-12, North finally picked up the pace and went on a great run that saw them lose just one round - a 1v2 clutch from Ruben "RUBINO" Villarroel - before taking the map.
The map that followed, Inferno, began with North getting out to a 5-0 lead on the Terrorist side. It was only then that HEROIC were able to find their feet, stringing three rounds together, but the rest of the half was all about North's great offense, with Philip "aizy" Aistrup's 1v4 and Daniel "mertz" Mertz's 1v2 in successive rounds really hurting Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer's men.
HEROIC kept their hopes alive by taking the pistol round, but then they were dealt a heavy blow as North hit back in the following round. That was the start of another great run from MSL's side, one that only ended when they got 16 rounds on the board.
  HEROIC |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37 - 37 | 0 | 71.5 | 67.9% | 1.02 | |
| 34 - 39 | -5 | 79.7 | 69.8% | 1.02 | |
| 33 - 39 | -6 | 73.2 | 66.0% | 0.94 | |
| 29 - 39 | -10 | 65.4 | 71.7% | 0.90 | |
| 30 - 34 | -4 | 58.2 | 66.0% | 0.86 |
  North |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47 - 30 | +17 | 88.5 | 71.7% | 1.38 | |
| 40 - 31 | +9 | 83.2 | 84.9% | 1.28 | |
| 39 - 32 | +7 | 67.8 | 77.4% | 1.07 | |
| 29 - 33 | -4 | 73.5 | 67.9% | 1.04 | |
| 33 - 37 | -4 | 65.2 | 69.8% | 0.92 |
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund
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